Soverign age

[camper]

How old is my soverign, the ser# is 16358. thanks

 

[Rick(ND)]

I don't know if anyone can tell from the serial number other than Minelab itself. If you post which model it is I am sure a person can tell what years they were made. The original Sovereign which were made around 1991-1994 didn't have a volume control, Both the original and the XS has plug in battery packs and the XS now had a volume control and were build around 1995-1998. Now the next model was the XS2 which had the drop in battery pack and used the new waterproof BBS coils and were from from around 1998-2000, the next model was the XS2a which had a multitone or signal tone switch on it which were made around 2001-2003, then around 2004 came the new looking Elite with the better battery pack and also a freq switch and by 2006 we have what we use now the Sovereign GT. This should give you a idea of how old yours is. I can be off on the year a little, but should be fairly close to give you a idea. I have used them all and they all are great detectors once you get to know them and understand them and probably the one detector that has less problems with as they are a work horse of a detector. I have only had to send 1 Sovereign in for repair that had a bad switch when new out of the box out of over 25 new I have sold and only 1 used one I bought off the auction someone had tried to tinker with and shorted out the circuit board.
Good luck with the Sovereign as you have a detector that will do the job and do it well.

Rick

 

[camper]

There is no model number it just says Sovereign on the side of the unit.

 

[lovepulltabs]

Does it look like this, this is a pic of my original Sovereign.

 

[camper]

Yes it looks exactly as the picture, I had it out yesterday and it seems the detecting dept is a bit shallow even though the battery was charged before I used it. The unit also has the D1 11 meter.

 

[lovepulltabs]

Well the original Sovereign is a deepseeking machine, maybe the GT beats it out in depth but not by much. Do you have a manual, make sure it's set up properly. I seem to get better depth running with the iron mask on. I couldn't find a download of the original sovereign manual but found one on the XS2a-pro that may help you out in general.
http://www.minelab.com/consumer/files/manuals/SovereignXS2aPro.pdf

 

[camper]

The machine came with the original manual and I will try the iron mask on as you suggest. Do you think a larger coil may help.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Depth comes with experience and also going slower with the coil so it has a chance to see the deeper targets as these signals maybe small.
Maybe it is just me or 2 bad original Sovereigns but i never could get the depth I could with the next model the XS which has the iron mask on all the time like the XS2, the XS2a and the Elite. Like I say maybe it is just me or 2 bad originals or could be they run different then the other Sovereigns.
Anybody else notice this??

 

[kered]

Just a thought but if your new to the Sovereign the gain works anticlockwise rather than clockwise on most other machines, highest setting is just before you click into auto, if you turned it full clockwise its on minimum

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Does the iron mask switch still null out iron like the others, or do you hear the iron when in disc mode ? If I'm not mistaken the GT has that too, just don't recall what it does

 

[Rick(ND)]

Iron mask on the GT I know when it is off will not see coins next to iron like it will when it is on. On it may false a little more, but it also can see coins next to iron much better. I believe the owners manual states that it will not get false signals as much when it is off as when it is on, but you will not get the good targets close to iron either.

 

[John(H)]

......................I have a Sovereign XS..............but the control panel looks a lot different than the ones that I have seen posted...................Mine does not have an Off/On switch for Iron Mask........In fact, it has no controls marked Iron Mask does this mean that Iron Mask is on all the time??....Is this an advantage or disadvantage??.............Here's a pic........Thanks Joe

 

[Rick(ND)]

With The XS you do not have the iron mask switch as they found most left the iron mask on so they could hear coins close to iron so Minelab left it off the XS and made the XS more sensitive I feel with my test in actual hunting. They also added the volume control to the XS. You have one of the best Sovereigns made so you should do well with it.

 

[John(H)]

With The XS you do not have the iron mask switch as they found most left the iron mask on so they could hear coins close to iron so Minelab left it off the XS and made the XS more sensitive I feel with my test in actual hunting. They also added the volume control to the XS. You have one of the best Sovereigns made so you should do well with it.

....................................................Rick ..............THANKS FOR THE CLARIFICATION........................................I really appreciate it!! .....................Joe