Looking for Tuner Recommendations

The place to discuss 18W-related ampfests, get-togethers, gigs, etc. These should be of interest specifically to 18watt.com members.

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cl1093
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Post by cl1093 »

i use a boss tu-2 tuner and it works just fine for me. one thing worth mentioning is that your selection might depend on who else you are playing with. like mentioned above, all of these tuners are a little different and some people feel that its best if everyone tunes with the same kind of tuner. to each his own
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rjgtr
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Post by rjgtr »

Chubsman wrote:
zaphod_phil wrote:I hate to be the party pooper, but I've never found tuners to be very useful personally. I think trained ears can do a better job. :)
But that sounds like amature night when tuning on stage... doing the harmonic thing... I personaly use a TU-2 and it works great. It's on the Tuner-out of my Ernie Ball volume pedal... so not in the signal chain at all....


I like to tune up every time I am not playing..( Song intro's... singer is talking to crowd...) That way I know it won't sound off when I start playing... especialy when you have a keys player or sequencers in the equation... Those hot lights seem to do a job on guitar strings... You take a guitar that was side stage and throw it in front of a flood light.... and the guitar goes out of tune... that is my experience...

my 2cents
The best thing is to hand the guitar to your tech and get a fresh guitar, but most of us don't have that luxury.

I agree that it's great that we can now tune in silence. Makes for a much better presentation.

Here's a funy story related to tuners. I also play drums and I was playing drums with a guitar player who had a Korg rack tuner. Instead of hooking it up right, he set it up so he doesn't tune silently. I offered to show him how to hook it up for silent tuning, but no, he didn't want to change it!

Even better, he was playing through a modelling amp with a built in tuner!
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zaphod_phil
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Post by zaphod_phil »

GUITARmole wrote:Not when you use a Jazzmaster with that horrible trem, the strings are all out of tune in different directions, and you have 15 seconds to get back in tune before your next song. :wink:
I would have to agree with you there. But I don't use trem. I even unscrew the whammy bar from the couple of Strats I have. :) I guess the same would probably go with 12 string guitars.

Bad joke:
Death row convict about to be executed.
- "Any final requests?"
- "Yes please, could I just tune my 12-string guitar"?
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katopan
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Post by katopan »

I've found Korg to have a much better resolution than Boss. Don't know about any others.
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CurtissRobin
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Post by CurtissRobin »

Thanks for the comments, all.

I once went to a benefit concert at a music shop in CA and one performer played a 12-string. In his introduction the shop owner remarked that, "I don't play 12-string guitars; life is short; tuning a 12-string takes a long time; our next performer doesn't perform often so he has the luxury of playing a 12-string guitar."

In re: Z_P's distaste for tuners, I have no quibble with that. It is a preference and whatever floats your boat is good. I'm a mite slower about a lot of things these days so using an electronic tuner speeds things along.

I looked at the Peterson Strobostomp 2 and have eliminated it from my list because it has no microphone for use with my acoustics. The Sonic Research Turbo Tuners are pretty spiffy and they've zoomed into the spendy slot of the top three on the short list. The Korg DT-1 being a rack mount begs the question: will it do my acoustics without pickups, preamps and cables? As to the Planet Waves tuner, I'll look into their Universal Chromatic II Tuner since they specifically mention stringed and wind instruments. I'd love to hear from someone who's used one before buying it, though. The Boss TU-2, like the Strobostomp, only addresses the electric side of things. Their TU-12 series has prospects but they offer a separate "brass and wind" instrument version. I won't eliminate the TU-12 from consideration but I'd really (and unreasonably, perhaps) prefer one tuner for all my instruments.

The mention of the Jazzmaster's trem brings to mind the horror of horrors that was the Freeflyte tremolo on the Elite Strat of 83-84. Some consider it the swan song of the CBS era at Fender. I am so-o-o-o grateful that my Elite is a hardtail and that the CBS era ended.

Still searching.

KennyO
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GUITARmole
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Post by GUITARmole »

CurtissRobin wrote: I looked at the Peterson Strobostomp 2 and have eliminated it from my list because it has no microphone for use with my acoustics.
For an additional $16 the peterson clip on pickup probably works better than any built in mic would anyway (no ambient noise pickup). Also, the Strobostomp has other features ('sweetened' tunings, able to store custom tunings, true bypass, etc) that make it a great pedal so you might want to reconsider not considering it.

Image
CurtissRobin wrote:
The mention of the Jazzmaster's trem brings to mind the horror of horrors that was the Freeflyte tremolo on the Elite Strat of 83-84. Some consider it the swan song of the CBS era at Fender. I am so-o-o-o grateful that my Elite is a hardtail and that the CBS era ended.
The Jazzmaster is a truly wretched instrument but it gets a certain sound that you can't get with other guitars so I'm stuck using it with my current gig.
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Post by StarGeezers »

The Club where we play regularly has a the air conditioning blowing on the band (Nice in summer) , but detunes a guitar quick ... we're always re-tuning ... Nature of the Beast !!! Amateur is playing out of tune ... :o
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Post by Chubsman »

Reminds me of a band that was put together for a one off benifit show...

We start to play and I hear the bass player is out of tune and he starts tuning next to his amp during the first song...

After the set the drummer comes up to me and says... hey did you see that... he tuned during the first tune... now that is pro!

I said no.... being tuned BEFORE the 1st tune.... THAT is pro.
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andrekp
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Post by andrekp »

CurtissRobin wrote:Thanks for the comments, all.

I once went to a benefit concert at a music shop in CA and one performer played a 12-string. In his introduction the shop owner remarked that, "I don't play 12-string guitars; life is short; tuning a 12-string takes a long time; our next performer doesn't perform often so he has the luxury of playing a 12-string guitar."
Only thing worse than tuning a 12-string is changing the strings on a 12! I had to do that Friday. I think I was STILL doing it Saturday.

You wouldn't think 6 more strings would make things that much more complex, but I think I can restring more than two 6's in the space of one 12.
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Post by paulschnettler »

CurtissRobin wrote:Thanks for the comments, all.

I once went to a benefit concert at a music shop in CA and one performer played a 12-string. In his introduction the shop owner remarked that, "I don't play 12-string guitars; life is short; tuning a 12-string takes a long time; our next performer doesn't perform often so he has the luxury of playing a 12-string guitar."


KennyO
I saw Leo Kottke play on friday. Came out with his 12 string and played a few songs. He jumped around with alternate tunings on the 12 and tuned while he chatted. I was amazed at how quick he could get er spot on and in tune. I'd have to say... in the hands of someone that can truly play a 12 with fingers. He made it look easy! :twisted:
He also commented while tuning his 6, that Whenever he played with Doc Watson, doc was always hammering him on his E string being out of tune. He'd have it spot on and Doc would want him to sharp the E string. Seems that Doc always does that to get his unique sound.
:roll:
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Post by Norbert »

zaphod_phil wrote:I hate to be the party pooper, but I've never found tuners to be very useful personally. I think trained ears can do a better job. :)
True, if you can't tune your instrument on it's own you don't have much business playing it. But there is the matter of relative pitch - you can tune to yourself, but might not always be in tune to someone else, or to something you recorded another day (unless you are fortunate enough to have perfect pitch).

And tuners give a good reference point for out-of-tune bandmates.
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Post by CurtissRobin »

paulschnettler wrote:I saw Leo Kottke play on friday.
I'm looking forward (understatement) to seeing him here in the Gorge October 16.

KennyO
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Post by paulschnettler »

CurtissRobin wrote:
paulschnettler wrote:I saw Leo Kottke play on friday.
I'm looking forward (understatement) to seeing him here in the Gorge October 16.

KennyO
You won't be disappointed. Amazing playing, voice sounded great for a 64yr old. And his humor and candor just speak volumes. As he put it... "For an old dairy farmer from Minnesota..."
He finished with his two showstoppers... Vaseline Machine Gun and Ring! :D
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Post by zaphod_phil »

Norbert wrote:True, if you can't tune your instrument on it's own you don't have much business playing it. But there is the matter of relative pitch - you can tune to yourself, but might not always be in tune to someone else, or to something you recorded another day (unless you are fortunate enough to have perfect pitch). And tuners give a good reference point for out-of-tune bandmates.
In the band I play in we usually all tune to the piano/keyboard before playing. And sometimes we do use a tuner for the reference. The main idea is to get everyone tuned to exactly the same pitch. Now I don't have anything against guitar tuners. My main beef with them is that there isn't any guitar that I know of that has perfect intonation. Maybe they would with a Buzz Feiten fret setup, but I don't own any Buzz Feiten guitars. So after using a digital tuner, I always end up tweaking the guitar so it sounds sweet everywhere on the fretboard. To me that somewhat reduces the usefulness of the digital tuner.
Chubsman wrote:Reminds me of a band that was put together for a one off benifit show... We start to play and I hear the bass player is out of tune and he starts tuning next to his amp during the first song... After the set the drummer comes up to me and says... hey did you see that... he tuned during the first tune... now that is pro! I said no.... being tuned BEFORE the 1st tune.... THAT is pro.
I also used to play bass a lot - mainly fretless. With an out of tune fretless you can compensate on the fly. :lol: Yesterday, during a set I realised that a couple of strings on my guitar (not bass) had moved slightly out. So I managed to tweak them between licks within the song. I'm sure a lot of folks could learn to do that kind of thing if they weren't too reliant on digital tuners.
rjgtr wrote:The best thing is to hand the guitar to your tech and get a fresh guitar, but most of us don't have that luxury.
I once used to be the guy they handed the guitar to, when I was roadie-ing... :)
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Post by Norbert »

zaphod_phil wrote: My main beef with them is that there isn't any guitar that I know of that has perfect intonation.
And even so with the digital tuner, I take its readings with a grain of salt because I know the guitar will not intone perfectly. So I aim to be slightly flat on the low strings (because they tend to go sharp when hit) and somewhat sharp on the top two strings, as this seems to work intonation-wise.
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Post by Colin_D »

krx wrote:Anyone tried the Planet Waves strobe tuner? $68 on Music123 right now for a true strobe. The Peterson stuff is great but way too expensive due to lack of competitors until recently.
I just bought one for about $55-ish from musiciansfriend.com... AFAIK it's the cheapest in-line tuner with a true bypass, which is nice. The strobe mode isn't that impressive, but it appears to be solidly built. Not the best tuner, but a good deal for the price IMO.

Colin_D
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GUITARmole
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Post by GUITARmole »

zaphod_phil wrote: In the band I play in we usually all tune to the piano/keyboard before playing. And sometimes we do use a tuner for the reference. The main idea is to get everyone tuned to exactly the same pitch. Now I don't have anything against guitar tuners. My main beef with them is that there isn't any guitar that I know of that has perfect intonation. Maybe they would with a Buzz Feiten fret setup, but I don't own any Buzz Feiten guitars. So after using a digital tuner, I always end up tweaking the guitar so it sounds sweet everywhere on the fretboard. To me that somewhat reduces the usefulness of the digital tuner.
Well, we don't have a piano player (all stringed instruments) and we really bang on the strings and use the (horrible Jazzmaster/Jaguar) trem so one of us could be flat, the other sharp, and none of the strings in tune so unless the entire band has perfect pitch (I just have sort of close relative pitch) and can tune without having to hear the notes (in silence) we lean on the crutch of a digital tuner on stage pretty heavily.

PERFECT intonation is undesirable because of the overtones with chords. The best method is to use a VERY ACCURATE tuner (like the Strobostomp or equivalent :wink: :wink: ) and adjust the bridge intonation so the guitar is in tune for your brand and gauge of strings. Next would be to tune up with a "sweetened" tuning like you said so that it sounds good everywhere on the fretboard...and guess what...the PETERSON tuners also have built in "sweetened" tunings that are "off" just a little bit that sound great...and you need a tuner that's accurate in order to be able to do that level of fine tuning.

Lastly, the Earvana nuts really help (and are much less expensive than the Buzz Feiten system).

Just my biased opinion after owning the Strobostomp and Earvana equipped guitars.
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Post by krx »

Colin_D wrote:
krx wrote:Anyone tried the Planet Waves strobe tuner? $68 on Music123 right now for a true strobe. The Peterson stuff is great but way too expensive due to lack of competitors until recently.
I just bought one for about $55-ish from musiciansfriend.com... AFAIK it's the cheapest in-line tuner with a true bypass, which is nice. The strobe mode isn't that impressive, but it appears to be solidly built. Not the best tuner, but a good deal for the price IMO.

Colin_D
That pedal isn't the same thing as the strobe. It's the "Desktop True Strobe" I'm curious about. Have one on the way to me right now!

I don't like to have any effects, even true bypass, inline because that means running a lot more cable. Also, I like to have a good tuner with a built-in mic on hand for my acoustics and other oddball instruments. I'll report back on my purchase...
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