Tesoro Vaquero "high tone" modification ?

[pinenut]

Hi folks, has anyone here attempted to modify their Vaquero (or Cibola) to give a higher audio tone? Just wondering if it could be a relatively simple thing to do. Don't want to spend $50+ to get the higher tone, if I can easily perform the the modification myself. Ideas?

 

[Mega]

I dont have a clue on how to do the modification but my UK super steroid version of the Vaquero (Laser Trident11 Extreme) came as standard with that high tone mode with it,it does seem alot when you take into account the postage as well for such a small modification.It cannot be a massive time involvement,but it does sound better i think.

Have just bought a 10x6 Mars coil for the machine for a few of my roman sites,i felt that the 11x8 coil was just a little big for these trashy sites and also have a 5.75 Concentric coil coming as well.

 

[pinenut]

I dont have a clue on how to do the modification but my UK super steroid version of the Vaquero (Laser Trident11 Extreme) came as standard with that high tone mode with it,it does seem alot when you take into account the postage as well for such a small modification.It cannot be a massive time involvement,but it does sound better i think.

Have just bought a 10x6 Mars coil for the machine for a few of my roman sites,i felt that the 11x8 coil was just a little big for these trashy sites and also have a 5.75 Concentric coil coming as well.

I just emailed Tesoro to ask the cost of modification, and immediately recieved a reply from Allan. Tesoro will do the high tone conversion for much less than I could myself, so I'll have them do it and know it'll be done properly. THANK YOU Allan and Tesoro!

Mega, I've no knowledge of that Mars coil (I don't think they're sold here), but I think you'll love that 5.75"!

^_^

 

[tvr]

I just emailed Tesoro to ask the cost of modification, and immediately recieved a reply from Allan.

That is good to hear! In past years they had been notoriously bad at responding to e-mail but would be terrific to deal with when contacted via phone.

 

[Zmerik]

I had my Vaquero upgrade about a year ago and love it. I am also pretty sure they upgrade the tone by changing the microcontroller, rather than changing component values. My Vaquero did come back with a different label on the programmed part.

 

[pinenut]

I had my Vaquero upgrade about a year ago and love it. I am also pretty sure they upgrade the tone by changing the microcontroller, rather than changing component values. My Vaquero did come back with a different label on the programmed part.

Interesting... Aside from the improved tone, did you you notice any difference in performance; either depth or discrimination?
I sent my Vaquero to 'em on Thursday, asking for the tone mod, check out / adjust all functions, and tune to 5.75 coil I sent with it. Hope it comes back at least as good as it was; found lots with that one. ^_^

 

[Zmerik]

The depth and discrimination is about the same as it was before the change, I just have to set it up a little different to get the same depth I was use to before the upgrade. The first thing I noticed was I had to run the threshold a little higher than I was use to after the upgrade. I really like the greater control my threshold knob has now. With the original low tone targets were just loud all the time, it was hard to tell the depth of the target by adjusting the threshold. If you can imagine being super tuned all the time that's what mine was like before the upgrade you would swear the pot was either on or off. After the tone change I can easily alter the threshold and pick out the smaller deeper targets if I want to. The only other thing that changed is my Vaquero now likes a quarter of a turn negative ground balance to get really deep. Before the tone upgrade a nice neutral ground balance was the normal, now I just run a little negative. The high tone is very pleasing to my ears and combined with the extra adjustment on the threshold, I never want to go back to the low tone, but that might just be my machine. By the way, Rusty from Tesoro ask me if he could take my machine out on a hunt to see how it works and of course I said yes. He later told me that my high tone Vaquero is a really hot machine compared to the average Vaquero, and that he liked it more than his personal low tone Vaquero. I do agree that it was almost too hot as a low tone, so that might have something to do with how my machine changed.

 

[Sven]

If they are changing the IC chip and if its not a programable chip it can be done outside Tesoro.
IC chips are made up of resistors, capacitors etc.
So if you peel back the Tesoro label on the chip, it will reveal a chip part number, if it has not been wiped off.
You would need to compare the numbers on a high tone and low tone version..............

You would need to do this on a high tone and low tone version and compare.

If some one will do this, might be an easy mod.