Minelab Sov. question...

What was the difference between original Sov. and models made after it...Used several Sov. models but never used the original and can't remember the difference and pro's and con's on the difference...thanks, Dan

Dug up some old manuals and got the answer...Original Sov. had the option of iron mask on or off and didn't have a volume control..

Perhaps some old Sov. enthusiast might give opinions on the pro's and cons...rel the iron mask.....

I was told by Rick ND, who knows his Sovereigns, that the models XS and XS 2 Pro were the best ones. I had an XS 2a Pro that worked very well for me. With the 8" coil I dug some Indian Heads at a measured 11". Not great separation in trashy iron sites. The treshold nulled on iron. You will get false signals on the edge of iron sometimes but easy to check in all metal. Still a great detector to have.

Rick N. MI

Indeed Rick ND is one of the best Sov. guys around so take his info to be spot on..Visited the Sov. forum and was nice to talk to him again like the old days when I used a Sov. and did very well with it as I interpet tones very well. Certainly not for everyone but this heavy , poor ergonomic unit may be the most modded detector ever...

Nice to be able to hipmount too like the cz's. The meter too is very accurate.

Rick N. MI

I have had every sovereign model....

The original 'The Sovereign '
Did have iron mask switch and Ground bal switch...

they all have the volume switch...

The Sovereign XS got rid of the iron mask switch its locked into iron mask on all the time....and the machine is in pinpoint mode in all metal instead of the way the original could run all metal ground bal mode or pinpoint mode....

They found out people left iron mask on and only used all metal for pinpoint...

The iron mask on allows for partial iron blips and response so target; next to iron have a better chance of being heard...iron mask off and that thing was dead nut quite on iron not a peep but more masking takes place...so most people just used on position..Still rejects iron very well...

The XS also got the inside box shielding and presto we had eXtra Sensitive...thats all they did..shileded the board with some foil and removed some switches,...the same switches we got back on the GT model 15 years later LOL!!and everyone praised it, and all it is, is the same as the original with shielding and better battery and newer style coil...o'yeah they did add a 2 channel noise cancel...


I like the XS the best out of all of them ...the white coil was done out of house and it was one deep coil I believe coiltek made those coils for them.. .....I did not like the BBS fat coil years like the XS-2..coils were too heavy...but the machine is fine...

I liked the elite allright it had the tornado coils they were lightweight compared to the fat BBS coil's....Better battery setup liken the GT got...

I like the elite too for the battery.. all of them can be modded to turn iron mask off also if you know the pinout on the I.c's...

I have modded some for people who like to turn iron mask off for full non iron experience......I like to hear the iron false alittle though myself...

They love deep silver!

Keith

Keith good critique especially about the shielding being added with the XS model....although I never used the original Sov. it did not have a volume control as did some research..Perhaps the most modded unit ever..Got some nice silver with the XS and understand the shielding really improved the original. Getting mighty scarce to find a good one and would think twice before I bought the original...

I too have had just about all the models of Sov ....One thing about the very early models was that they were very prone to finding Hot Rocks if they were in the area ......i had differences of opinion as far as the iron mask switch was concerned .....I think that basically it oppened up the lower iron range of the Sov to allow for more iron to bleed thru .... There are many guys that are still using the Sov that have been for years ....Rick ND was one who I talked with a lot ...... You will never find anyone that LOVES the Sov more than Critterhunter who has written an excyclopedia on his take of the Sov .....My favorite model is probably the GT ....It had plenty of power and you could use it in low mineralized ground to a great extent ..... I had mine rigged to run Lipo batteries, and a chest mount ...... My next fav model is the XS .....While not as powerful as the GT , the XS is very mild mannored , and you can run the sensitivity higher than the other models .....It ran a lot more quiet than the other models , and paired up with an early Coinsearch coil that was NOT waterproof , it was a very telling detector ....If you were near a target that Coinsearch coil would SCREAM at you !!..... My detecting partner use to say " Get the hell away from me with that thing " ......It was SO LOUD AND PROUD !!!.....LOL !!.... I still have the XS just because I don't think I could even NOT have at least one Sov in my arsenal ......Jim

Your right Mr. Dan the original did not have a volume it was pretty much wide open all the time...Full signal report....

the volume on the sovereigns were sort of weird...the volume actually made the signal wider the higher you set it...on the XS I would run it at half volume and it actually narrowed up the response in trashy area's..

Sorry about the Volume statement..but that was 22 years ago I had the first one LOL!!

But I enjoyed the XS immensely.....

Short story

it was around late 91 or early 92 or so when the sovereigns were released cant remember now.....

My buddy bought one at about the same time he had just hit a Virgin Huge Huge Cavalry/Infantry Camp here close to town....overlooked for years ...It was a great camp to hunt but anyway......

He invited a few of us to hunt it with Him..It strectched out along a roadbed in the woods for about 2 miles....2 miles of untouched heaven ......There was a house site along this roadbed way back deep in the woods. He was running the Sovereign original in that site one day and we all were laughing at him about having that crazy sounding machine...the sovereign we thought was no match for newely released 1266...I had traded the 1265 for it a not long before...and another guy had the first CZ6 so we were laughing at the machine that sounded like nothing we had ever known.....

we were digging buttons bullet's big penny's etc in this site and having a ball...the dirt is orange red clay...but we are also digging a ton of the big iron in there like stove part's kettles horse shoes etc.....My buddys sovereign is not digging any iron at all...but He's gettign some really deep bullet's..

Anyway about midday he's between the old chimney and the long forgotten road bed in a flat area slight rise above a beautiful meandering creek that the roadbed has just passed though and came up to this old ancient house site.....He get's a real high pitched baby kitten sound on the Sov...weak,faint yet there..He says yall better look out there's something good right here....we check the signal with our detector's ... We dont hear nothing...cz or 1266 or even a tesoro I had brought to Pick in the iron that day did not hear it.....He starts digging and about 20 minutes later He's still working on the target..Finally he gets down to where the dirt starts turning that awesome green color leached out dirtinto the surronding that all relic hunter love to see....he start's using his Knife then to dig ...well low and behold it's a C.S.A. belt buckle lying flat at a measured 25".. The CZ guy bit His cigarrette in half LOL!!..

What was so crazy about it was the ground was natural no plowing, hard wood's....yet the buckle was that deep...I still to this day wonder if it was not a burial....And my reasoning behind it was there was half an artillery shell fuze lodged into the buckle dead center top of the S and was sticking out the back...whoever had that buckle on was not doing too good that day 150 years ago...Poor Fella...

But anyway thise sovereign's on high conductors in thsi dirt around here will get to some uncanny deoth...to this day there the best deep Buckle Digger's I have ever seen...not too bad on silver either LOL!!!MAnt they love deep .58 claiber bullet's too!!!

You can turn the disc all the way up loose not depth and dig just high conductor's...in old house sites you can go in get a buckle and not have to dig large iron or mason jar lids...sort of a unique machine for sure...

Oyeah about 10 years later they put a subdivision on that site and theres a cul-de-sac right dead on where the CSA came from....about 15 feet below original grade.....I ride in there every once in awhile and think back to that day!

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2013 02:40AM by Keith Southern.

Keith saw a nice old original Sov. for sale and so the thread started..Heck your small mistake is miniscule compared to all the advice you give and are a credit to the hobby.
Glad I started the thread as in my mind especially the shielding would not have given me what I was looking for from my days of the XS and a few models up and hope we all learned a little about an oldie but goodie....thanks guys for your input......

Much appreciated Dan...You too offer some great true advice for the fellow treasure Hunter's...

Keith

Hey Keith thank you very much for the story, that was a incredible find for your friend and a amazing depth!

That must have been a awesome place to hunt.

Hi Kieth

im using the sov xs im interested to know how to turn off the iron mask ive researched to try and find a mod but had no joy

some of the land i have in the uk is a bed of nails

It was a pin on the main I.C. chip on Elite

You had to unplug chip...BE CAREFUL....bend out the pin on chip and pulled it back it thus not allowing one of the pins to go into socket when re inserted into IC socket...

On XS may be the same or could of still used the original Board and had a Jumper inside..not sure so long ago...

either way if its a chip pin its sort of once done stays that way till you move it back ..if its a jumper you can hook up a toggle to turn it on and off..

I would never want iron mask off myself...Slugs the machine up..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla