What are the Pros and Cons of a headstock tuner versus a pedal tuner?

[MesaMonster]

Hey All,

I have never really used a pedal tuner. I have a tuner on my M9 but it sits in the loop. I dont think it tunes properly either in the loop or when there is distortion in the path. A good example is when I tune my Gretsch G5120 with the M9, it never sounds right. So I recently bought a headstock tuner. Best investment and it was cheap. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to tune my guitar and to have it stay in tune. With headstock tuners available and cheap, why do players still use tuners on the pedal board?

[companyman]

I sold my TU-2 a couple of years back and got a Snark, haven't looked back....accurate enough to do intonation too!

[Trick Fall]

I always thought the headstock tuners looked a little dorky which wouldn't bother me for home playing, but would for shows. My pedal tuner is also my mute too, but I suppose you could turn down the guitar's volume and still tune with a headstock tuner.

[MesaMonster]

I am not so concerned with the look of a tuner on the headstock. The audience could care less. I didnt think about the possibility of the tuner flying off. But then, I am usually playing at church so I am not running around like a maniac.

[V]

I have only used a clip on in the shop. Never really saw the need for one since I have a nice hardwire tuner. The pedal tuner ia polyphonic for one thing and i have not seen a polyphonic clip on. I also place my tuner after oscillating fuzz in my chain so I can both mute the signal and tune the secondary oscillations to specific notes that are in line with my guitar tuning. I can't do either of those things if the tuner is on my headstock.

[PurpleTrails]

Clip-on:

    Pros: cheap, accurate enough, small, works on unamplified acoustics and other instruments

    Cons: susceptable to inaccuracy if there is noise, not as accurate as my pedal tuner, doesn't turn off the

    signal to my amp as I tune, stops working at the worst possible time if the battery goes, looks dorky

Pedal:

    Pros: accurate, turns off signal to amp when tuning, powered as long as you have power to your board,

    can daisy chain other pedals off it (some models)

    Cons: more expensive, need to have your pedal board there, limited to whatever instrument you have

     plugged in, heavy

 

[Beyer160]

I'm not sure about tuners, but these are The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking:

 

 

 

[Jisatsu]

Have been using a headstock tuner for about 7 years now. An older korg one. Doesn't give me issues tuning with a drummer or bassist, works awesome on my acoustics. I've had to change the batteries 2 times since I bought it. Set your guitars up right and treat them well and you won't have to tune as much, or go through batteries so often. If you worry about looks, take the half second to unclip it from the headstock and put it in your pocket.

 

Pedal tuners may work for others, but I have enough useless junk on my pedal board, don't need any more.

[goodhonk]

JIATSU!

[liko]

 

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PurpleTrails wrote:

 

 

Clip-on:

 

    Pros: cheap, accurate enough, small, works on unamplified acoustics and other instruments

 

    Cons: susceptable to inaccuracy if there is noise, not as accurate as my pedal tuner, doesn't turn off the signal to my amp as I tune, stops working at the worst possible time if the battery goes, looks dorky

 

Pedal:

 

    Pros: accurate, turns off signal to amp when tuning, powered as long as you have power to your board, can daisy chain other pedals off it (some models)

 

    Cons: more expensive, need to have your pedal board there, limited to whatever instrument you have plugged in, heavy

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+1 to all this. My TU-2 is my go-to tuner for most of my gigging work, especially with electrics, and i bought it as much to be a mute pedal as for the tuning capability. It's ragged on as slow, hard-to-read, inaccurate, etc etc but the truth is it's a solid, useable chromatic tuner that just needs a better display (which they seem to have given it, with the new TU-3, only trouble is the sharp note indicator is as small as ever).

The clip-on I have now is an Intelli chromatic that I hate, but it's all I have for tuning my acoustic when I don't bring my pedal board and amp (which is most of the time). It functions, but its note detection and/or UI is very slow, sweeping up from flat into the correct indication of the note's tuning. It also doesn't do well with the lower notes; it's fastest when tuning harmonics (which in turn requires a quiet stage). That NS Micro tuner looks like a winner, and at $12 from MF I might well pick one up at GC on my way home from work tonight.

[Chordite]

I find it like having a fly on the tv screen. It sits in your peripheral vision driving you nuts.

Plus I don't need to tune very often anyway, so its pedal or more usually by ear

[MesaMonster]

Batteries are not an issue. I have the same one in the tuner (Snark) from when I bought it. I keep it on all the time so I can quick tune in between songs.