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clip on tuners


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I hear you. We know there are still serious issues. frown.gif The good news is that the bid for the repair work was placed, the budget approved and the repair work is beginning... hopefully we'll see some improvements soon. I want it just as badly as anyone else, if not more!

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What happens? Do they just go dead on you' date=' or start freaking out somehow?[/quote']

I was wondering the same thing. I've had a Snark blue clip-on for years with no problems. Plus, you can buy Snarks all day long for under $15. I strongly suspect the TC Electronic will run close to three times that, minimum. I'd like to get an extra clip-on for my electric instead of using the same tuner for both guitars. I could leave the tuner in the case for a change instead of swapping it back and forth.

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What happens? Do they just go dead on you, or start freaking out somehow?

 

they just stop picking up the note correctly, it's happened to about 3-4 of them now for me. My theory is the more you twist the little cheap plastic neck around to re-position it, the less the sound is accurately transferred to the internal vibration sensor.

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You guys even use those thumb pick sized strobe tuners by planet waves. They actually work pretty good. If they were only a little more durable.

I think my dog chewed on the first one. I bought a second one but it developed a problem with the thumb wheel switch. I do like the strobe on the strings though. I'm surprised someone hasn't come up with one that mounts on a guitar or that's built into a pickup with 6 sets of LED's. You just tune up and when the string stops waving its in tune. easy to see in the dark too.

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Kind of amazed here. Clip on tuners are basically a <$10 item these days. I've got about a dozen on various headstocks around the house. Reverb.com is selling them for $4.99 these days, and those are decent little tuners.

 

As for "wearing down," are you replacing the batteries? CR2032 batteries are available as a 10pak for $8 or so on Amazon.

 

And Phil - what do you mean knock it off the headstock? What the hell's going on over there? You jumping off the Marshall stack on to the floor? Doing Townshends around the house? (I kid - they're pretty solid little critters, fear not).

 

My biggest worry about clip ons is that they are so handy, I fear I am de-training my ear over time. Then I realized that's not really true, because its the noticing in the first place that tells me my ears are fine, and I'm sure we can all tune using the oscilations between harmonics ... right?

 

Clip on tuners: great big YES!

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Bump to review the Eno ET-33. Now that I'm playing my electric in worship sometimes, I wanted a second clip-on tuner to keep in the case with the electric. A while back Musician's Friend had a Fishman clip-on on sale cheap but the reviews were less than encouraging. I started shopping on eBay and lost the bid on both a Samson CT20 and a Korg PitchClip. I've had a blue Snark for a while but I finally decided to get something cheap and be done with it. I also wanted to buy a second one for our praise band's other guitarist, who can't seem to keep his Ibanez electric in tune.

 

I bought a pair of Eno ET-33 tuners for just shy of $11 shipped with batteries. They arrived yesterday and I had a chance to try them. You press and hold the single button for a few seconds to turn it on. Tapping the button cycles through chromatic, guitar, bass, violin, and ukulele modes. Holding the button down again turns it off. If you turn it off and back on, it starts up in the mode you last selected. In chromatic mode, the display shows the note letter, with an optional sharp symbol. In guitar mode, it shows the note letter and the string number. The display changes from white on blue to green when the note is in tune.

 

I tried it on my Jay Turser beater, my Schecter electric, and my old Alvarez bass. It worked on all three and surprisingly well on 4-string bass (sorry, I don't own a 5-string bass). I normally have to use the 12th fret harmonic when tuning the low E on a bass and I was pleased that it wasn't necessary with the Eno.

 

I checked the results with my Snark and the tuning was 2 cents sharp, equal to about 0.13 Hz for the 110 Hz A string or about 1/9 of a percent. I don't know about you but I doubt I can hear an interval like that. All in all, I'm happy with the Eno, especially for bass, and the price is hard to beat.

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And Phil - what do you mean knock it off the headstock? What the hell's going on over there? You jumping off the Marshall stack on to the floor? Doing Townshends around the house?

 

 

Picture something like this (from about 2:00 - 2:40), but with a lot less hair... ;)

 

 

[video=youtube;S1i5coU-0_Q]

 

 

(I kid - they're pretty solid little critters, fear not).

 

 

Is the visibility and tuning accuracy pretty good with them too?

 

Seriously - that's good to know about them being solid and staying put - thank you! :philthumb:

 

 

 

 

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My blue snark lasted a couple years before it just stopped telling me if a note was in tune or not. Changing batteries made no diff. Got a new black one to replace it.

 

 

 

Pro tip: clip them so the display is behind the head of your guitar. Much less obtrusive that way.

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I had one, a non Snark, that worked for years until my girlfriend knocked it off the headstock and it died a sudden death. Snark I got to replace it, on sale for $7, died after 6 months. Tried replacing the battery to no avail. I just bought a new one at Sam Ash and paid an extra $5 for a replacement guarantee. Supposedly, if it stops working they will give me a new one.

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Huh. I've had a black Snark for a couple years now and it works really well.

 

Guess I shouldn't be surprised if it stops working any day now.

 

But I got rid of my pedal tuner a few months ago because I was broke and sold off stuff that would be easy to replace, hoping it wouldn't come to selling actual effects I like. Figured I could get by with the clip-on until things turned around and turns out I love not having a pedal tuner anymore and just leaving the Snark on my headstock. Not sure I'll bother with a dedicated pedal for tuning going forward. I only have one electric and one acoustic ATM though. If I had more guitars it would certainly turn into a pain swapping it around all the time.

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Update: Today I tried the Eno on a Fender Mexi Jazz Bass at church and it didn't work worth a darn even on the "Bass" setting. I had to use harmonics and "Chromatic" mode. Once again, it looks like these clip-on tuners just don't work well with a bass.

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