Members Audiopile Posted October 23, 2015 Members Share Posted October 23, 2015 I'm thinking of updating the tuner I've been packing along in my gig bag for a couple - three decades. What I have and have had since sometime in the '80's... maybe early '90's is an Arion HU-8500 stompbox type tuner. It still works fine, but I suspect there's likely better out there. Suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted October 23, 2015 Members Share Posted October 23, 2015 Wow, that tuner takes me back to my Mesa Boogie and Rat R2D2 days. IIRC my Arion either broke, or I found it just a tad off - probably a bit of both. I switched to the Korg rackmount tuners like the DT-1 Pro and picked up another Korg rack mount for studio use - still have both of them. These days however, I've got a couple of Boss TU-2 tuners in both of my pedal boards. They're not bad, and I see a lot of them out there. I only use my rack a few times per decade. I see they also have the TU-3 now. Excuse the Canadian link, I know you're south of the border, the other border that is. https://www.long-mcquade.com/7631/Guitars/Accessories/Boss/Chromatic_Tuner.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted October 23, 2015 Members Share Posted October 23, 2015 I have a Korg DTM-12 with a crapppy power supply. These days I use a $15 Snark tuner. Attaches to the headstock, easy to see at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MarkGifford-1 Posted October 23, 2015 Moderators Share Posted October 23, 2015 I like the Korg Pitchblack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madjack Posted October 23, 2015 Members Share Posted October 23, 2015 I started originally with a Conn Strobe tuner, so I'm partial to them. I use a Peterson strobe tuner at home for guitar and bass setups, and use the onboard tuner in a Vox Stomplab onstage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Axisplayer Posted October 24, 2015 Members Share Posted October 24, 2015 I use a Petersen 490ST for everything. Had a Korg rack unit, and never warmed up to it. I would be happy with a Petersen stompclassic also. Not cheap but does include a built in direct box to offset the cost. I wont use anything else, but that is mainly just because I feel at home with an actual strobe wheel. http://www.petersontuners.com/products/stompclassic/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted October 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 25, 2015 I'm thinking of sourcing a tuner with a needle meter so it can be read in day-light. And something "small-ish" so it's minimal in the gig bag. And reasonably inexpensive so if it walks off... eh... eh... packing along a tuner is not as boy scout as it used to be as tuners are much more prevalent than they were 20 - 30 years ago. Now the boy scout thing seems to be installing 9v batteries to activate the on-board tuners on instruments... which seems to be a good use for 1 show worn wireless mic batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mshifflett Posted October 26, 2015 Members Share Posted October 26, 2015 The new Boss TU-3 is easier to see in daylight. http://www.bossus.com/products/tu-3/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted October 26, 2015 Members Share Posted October 26, 2015 Boss is only accurate up to +/- 1 cent. You can do allot better today and not have to bust your bank buying a Peterson. TC Electronic Polytune is excellent and super cool to use. You can strum across all 6 strings and see which ones are out of tune or just tune them individually. I bought the clip on model which has .002 cent accuracy and got a free plugin version for my DAW. I also have a Planet Waves/D'Addario Strobe tuner pedal which is very accurate. I use that one for doing setups because its very sensitive and accurate up to 1/10 of one cent. I have maybe 4 others. A Sabine Rack unit for the studio. Its got a built in Audio mode where it produces a tone through the amp so you can tune by ear too. I have an older boss, forget which model. Its been collecting dust for at least 5 years as well as some others. I have tuners built into several of my multi effects pedals too. Some are better then others. The one in the Digitec pedals is actually quite good. I normally use the ones in my DAW these days. I compared the Polytune to the online version running both at the same time and they matched each other to a T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gspointer Posted October 26, 2015 Members Share Posted October 26, 2015 Boss is only accurate up to +/- 1 cent. You can do allot better today and not have to bust your bank buying a Peterson. TC Electronic Polytune is excellent and super cool to use. You can strum across all 6 strings and see which ones are out of tune or just tune them individually. I bought the clip on model which has .002 cent accuracy and got a free plugin version for my DAW. I also have a Planet Waves/D'Addario Strobe tuner pedal which is very accurate. I use that one for doing setups because its very sensitive and accurate up to 1/10 of one cent. I have maybe 4 others. A Sabine Rack unit for the studio. Its got a built in Audio mode where it produces a tone through the amp so you can tune by ear too. I have an older boss, forget which model. Its been collecting dust for at least 5 years as well as some others. I have tuners built into several of my multi effects pedals too. Some are better then others. The one in the Digitec pedals is actually quite good. I normally use the ones in my DAW these days. I compared the Polytune to the online version running both at the same time and they matched each other to a T. I second the polytune. I haven't touched my Peterson strobostomp since I got it. I am pretty sure it is plenty bright for outdoor use, but confess that I haven't done a full sun outdoor gig with it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted October 26, 2015 Members Share Posted October 26, 2015 I'm thinking of sourcing a tuner with a needle meter so it can be read in day-light. And something "small-ish" so it's minimal in the gig bag. And reasonably inexpensive so if it walks off... eh... I was going to suggest the Korg LCA-120 chromatic tuner, but appears to be out of production. While I like the clam shell configuration and the LCD needle display, which is very visible in bright daylight and back lit for dimly lit stages, if you any kind of rough on equipment, this may be a little delicate for some tastes. It was fairly spendy at MSRP, but with a little diligence and patience I was able to get a couple for a decent price. I use them most for acoustic gigs and a backstage tuner. All my rigs have rack mounted tuners of varying pedigrees from Korgs to Petersen's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted October 28, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 28, 2015 Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I researched the suggestions, shopped around some and ordered a Korg GT-120 tuner... looks like it will do the job a-ok, fine, and should be a notable improvement over my good-ole Arion tuner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bobby1Note Posted November 7, 2015 Members Share Posted November 7, 2015 I use a Peterson Strobo-Clip most of the time, but I've also got a bunch of PolyTunes, PolyTune Mini's, Korg Pitch-Black, a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner, an old Boss TU-12,,,, and,,,, a tuning-fork. The Polytunes are cool because you "see" all 6 strings at once, and you know precisely which ones are in tune, and which are out of tune. The displays are very good. The Turbo-Tuner is fast,,,,, REALLY fast,,,, and super bright display (the best choice for outdoor gigs in bright light) As for the old BOSS needle-type tuner,,,, it never gets used any more. My tuning fork is more portable, and does just as good a job. The Strobo-Clips are VERY compact, with great displays, and extremely accurate, as well as being the handiest. The downside is, I've broken one,,,, but the upside is, Peterson replaced it immediately,,,, no questions asked. They really stand behind their products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 8, 2015 Members Share Posted November 8, 2015 Mark, I know I'm super late to the party, but I have to chime in and say that the Turbo tuner is a nice option - instantaneous response and very accurate. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted November 12, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 12, 2015 Thanks Greg and Bob for the advice. Today I purchased a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200 on eBay. I'll see what when it arrives. I'm tepid about the Korg GT-120 I recently bought & got and have used a bit... it's "ok", but frankly I like my old Arion tuner better and seemingly get just as good if not better results with the Arion, and the Arion is seemingly much more robustly built than the Korg. And: I still have my A tuning fork... never changed the battery in that device yet "going on 50 years" and it still works perfectly. Kind-of wish I still had my old Conn Strobotuner... maybe I'll look around to get one as a reality check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bobby1Note Posted November 12, 2015 Members Share Posted November 12, 2015 Good call Mark, I think you're going to enjoy using the Turbo-Tuner ST-200. With a .02 cent accuracy, it's hard to beat for setting intonation. Add the fact that it's "true bypass", and a virtually instantaneous response time, with the most visible display, and you've got a winner. I'm also thinking of getting the acoustic instrument model, the ST 122. I'll be interested in reading your impressions of the ST-200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gregidon Posted November 15, 2015 Members Share Posted November 15, 2015 Thanks Greg and Bob for the advice. Today I purchased a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200 on eBay. I'll see what when it arrives. I'm tepid about the Korg GT-120 I recently bought & got and have used a bit... it's "ok", but frankly I like my old Arion tuner better and seemingly get just as good if not better results with the Arion, and the Arion is seemingly much more robustly built than the Korg. And: I still have my A tuning fork... never changed the battery in that device yet "going on 50 years" and it still works perfectly. Kind-of wish I still had my old Conn Strobotuner... maybe I'll look around to get one as a reality check. Mark, When I first got my ST-200 it popped when going into tuning mode (which was quite annoying). I manually cycled the switch a bunch (maybe a couple hundred times) and the pop went away, just a data point in case you have the same issue. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted November 17, 2015 Members Share Posted November 17, 2015 Just as an aside - as a bass player I got sick of listening to the guitarists tuning all the time (or NOT tuning when obviously needed) so started using a pedal tuner that mutes when in use and shamed/bitched them all into getting them. Kicks the bands up a notch IMO . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members popgadget Posted November 26, 2015 Members Share Posted November 26, 2015 I use a Peterson Strobe for setting intonation, but for a quick stage tuner, a Snark clip on works pretty well and at like 10 bucks, I leave one in very case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted November 26, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 26, 2015 Mark, When I first got my ST-200 it popped when going into tuning mode (which was quite annoying). I manually cycled the switch a bunch (maybe a couple hundred times) and the pop went away, just a data point in case you have the same issue. Greg I've received the ST-200 tuner... really like it... no issue with the switch popping... no issues what-so-ever. Seems to be a well designed and well built unit. I also scored a Conn Strobotuner on eBay... got it from a Goodwill store. It needed a little fixing up... looks and works like new now. I took it to band practice... was quite the conversation piece. I think I'm pretty well tuned up at this point... other than the remaining 6 basses I have that I'm fixing to get to getting the intonation set over the next few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 27, 2015 Members Share Posted November 27, 2015 I did a roundup of a whole bunch of Planet Waves tuners on HC several years ago...they are a really diverse bunch. My takeaway was that the most important part was defining your needs closely enough to be able to choose the right tuner for the right job. One bummer I've found with a lot of computer-based tuners (e.g., the ones included in software) is they seldom agree about pitch, particularly with bass. The Peterson soft strobe is the best for that application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted November 28, 2015 Members Share Posted November 28, 2015 I just got in a Korg PitchBlack I got cheap ($30) because the eternal power jack is FUBAR - looks brand new to me. I specifically wanted a pedal tuner that has both true bypass and a looooong battery life for when it's my only pedal (into a tube amp or my TH-350). The battery life calculates out to something like 400 days when on standby (input jack connected but "off"). Most stable tuner on bass I've used yet but I have yet to try an ST-200 which is rumored to also meet my requirements (and is way cool in a spinney twirly sort of way ). Rumor is that the ST-200 actually turns completely "off" when "off" but that it will pop depending on what it connected before and/or after it - I suspect that if run directly off a bass with a non-floating output it would be fine. A capacitively coupled pedal output into it with a capacitively coupled input after it might be the thing that will make it pop as that could/world float up when in bypass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.