Vintage White's Mini Master TR

[River Raider]

Here's another little cutie I picked up, with the help of a forum member.
A 1976 Bi-Centennial sticker model.
Came with hard carry case.
Working condition.
One I always wanted when I was a kid but, couldn't afford.
Wife says "re-living childhood dreams"

 

[Old California]

Very nice Sven,

This particular model goes well in the older sites laced with iron, test her out with square nails covering a coin.

I have one just like yours only the box is gold/brown color, was very impressed plus gets above normal depth for a TR.

Congrats on the score,
Paul ( CA)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow, what memories. You'll notice that had no discriminator whatsover. "1976" was about the cross-over years, where ...... discriminators began to be standard on ANY machine you would buy. Not that everyone USED them in every conceivable hunting situation (there might certainly have been places where someone elects to dig all, including iron). But by 1976, you at least had that option on every detector (and could simply turn it off, or flip the switch, if you didn't want discriminate). I got into detecting about that year, and recall that you could still get Compass 77b's brand new about that time. Or ... as yours shows, Whites that also had no discrimination on them. But all the detector Co's, about that time, were rolling out their lineups that had various forms and types of disc. And before long, I bet that a detector WITHOUT IT, simply wouldn't sell

Hence yours is sort of the last of that generation. Thanx for posting!

 

[TC-NM]

Wow Sven! That's in really nice shape! Let us know your observations and finds if you could please.

Good Luck,

TC_NM

 

[RobM]

Nice find,,, doesn't look like it ever went out the front door. Must have spent it's life in a closet or someone was really good at restorations.

Rob Mills ~ Tulsa

 

[vlad]

n/t

 

[Tom_in_CA]

yes. The 66TR did it, the compass 77b did it, and other such machines. The "viking" (still made today, right?) still does it. So it's not accurate, I suppose, to say they had "no discrimination". Since they would pass small iron. And yes, see right through nails, to find conductors underneath nails. However, that trick only worked up to about 3 or 4 nails. Anymore nails than that, and it would start to null.

And their depth was poor, they were hard to keep balanced, worked poorly in minerals, and had no other form of Disc. So in nearly every way, they are a dinasour. But in that one way, they were great. Thus there is sometimes still a niche for them.

a 2-filter machine (like the whites classic series, various tesoro's, etc..) can see up to a nail or two over a coin. But the old all-metal TRs could do the trick with up to 3 or so.

 

[HaroldILL.]

That what is nice about the Whites XL-PRO as it has a TR MODE to go along with the GEB DISC. and the awesome SAT MODE.

 

[vlad]

n/t

 

[River Raider]

Wow, this detector is pretty neat.
Had very weak volume when I first turned it on. Did function overall. Determined it was not a bad speaker but, a bad op amp on the circuit board. The part was now obsolete, no longer made. Found a surplus item that matches up as a replacement. ... While the detector was apart, replaced the electrolytic capacitors as well. Finally added a new battery holder.

Powered the Minimaster up.......like I said Wow.
Operates with an extremely stable threshold. Played around air testing with my box of goodies. Love the way the large and small iron nails null out after 1" from the coil. Still picks up coins and gold rings when passing them touching the nail across the coil, even at 5-6". Like the nail(s) were not even there. Has no problem picking up a 1/4" gold nugget. Even my tiny vial of flake gold could just be heard at abou 1".

This detector will be fun to play with when spring starts.

 

[Old California]

Good job Sven, You always were good with electronics good to hear you got her going.

The Whites Mini-Master is one hot TR, I've compared it with other TR's from the same era and it is one hot unit with both sensitivity and depth. I may have posted once before touching on the Mini Master on another forum so I've seen the same exciting results you're getting.

Picked up an old Ghost Tower TR from Allan Cannon a while back, It was a parts machine but really like the balanced feel of this unit so I gutted out my Whites Mini Master TR and placed the board inside the old Ghost Towner TR housing. Stayed with the coil too the 4B coil to the Mini Master was tuned for the Mini Master so it went on the old Ghost Towner housing as well. The meter assembly is tucked inside the housing really didn't want to carve a hole in the old TR housing so inside the housing it went.

Please share your experiences with the Mini Master TR when weather permits, You're going to really enjoy how smooth it operates and the depth it get's for an old machine.

I'll post a couple of pis of my modified Mini Master, Think I'm going to use her for a few days before work next week

Thanks Sven for the update!

Paul (Ca)