Best Electronic Tuners ?

[MikeyT]

    The cheaper the better, 'cause I'm poor; but I'll spend whatever it takes to get the right one.

  I've got these cool cheap guitars with high action sitting around begging to be played, so I've got to learn to set them up. I need something accurate enough to do that, natch.

[justinhedrick]

    The cheaper the better, 'cause I'm poor; but I'll spend whatever it takes to get the right one.

  I've got these cool cheap guitars with high action sitting around begging to be played, so I've got to learn to set them up. I need something accurate enough to do that, natch.

i hear the guitar fetish tuner is supposed to be pretty good.

[RAGER]

Lots of people including me use Boss TU-2 that can also be used on stage but you don't want that tone sucking thing in the signal chain.  i have a tuner out on my head switcher that I use. i also use one of these on the bench.

[bitter]

I have the guitar fetish pedal tuner. It does the trick but the construction was a little rough (tool marks, ect). Overall, it seems pretty accurate, tracks fairly quickly, and is super bright w/ a large display. not bad for what, $35 or so?

[moose23]

Lots of people including me use Boss TU-2 that can also be used on stage but you don't want that tone sucking thing in the signal chain.  i have a tuner out on my head switcher that I use. i also use one of these on the bench.

Have you actually experienced any tone suck from a TU 2? If anything the buffered bypass should help you not lose any high end across your true bypass pedals but then the likes of Keeley wouldn't make any money drilling holes and ripping out the included bypass to replace with a 3dpt. Read this: http://www.tech21nyc.com/technotes/index.html

I use the Korg Pitchblack myself and I love it, use as both a tuner and a mute switch. It's true bypass and all too. Heard good stuff about the GFS tuner if you want cheap.

[The Shocker]

    The cheaper the better, 'cause I'm poor; but I'll spend whatever it takes to get the right one.

  I've got these cool cheap guitars with high action sitting around begging to be played, so I've got to learn to set them up. I need something accurate enough to do that, natch.

I've got a tuner in the cheap trades thread if you have something you want to trade it for.  It would work better for setups than on stage anyway.

[Chovie D]

I was gonna say what moose said. Ive never experienced tone suck from the tu2. It is a buffered bypass, not a true bypass.

Heres what analogman has to say aboot bufffered bypass:

"Do I need buffers? Is true bypass bad?
There are various positions in regards to a buffer's use in a signal chain. Some seemingly opposing convictions are given by authorities who certainly can't be wrong, as their clients have awesome tone. Using a true bypass remote switching system or a full pedalboard of boutique pedals is one extreme, while a board full of Boss and Ibanez pedals, or a switching system with buffers on each switch is the other extreme.

My belief is that buffers can be used, and should be used in some cases, but the number of buffers in your signal path should be minimized.

A buffer is basically an active device which takes your somewhat weak guitar signal and amplifies it. Usually a gain of one (unity gain) is used so the volume does not change and your sound stays the same. However your signal is changed to a lower impedance so it can go through long patch cords without losing it's strength.

A buffer or buffered pedal (for example a Boss or Ibanez pedal that is turned off) will allow a good tone to make it through a cheap or long patch cord. Several years ago I sold several true bypass pedals to a player with a large pedalboard. He said it sounded terrible and that one of the pedals must have a problem. He brought the board to my shop and all the pedals checked out fine. We determined that his cheap patch cord from guitar to board was killing his tone, but he never noticed it as he previously had a few buffered pedals. Replacing the cord solved his problem and the new pedals worked great.

A buffer is often used as the first device in a board, to get the signal from your guitar into good shape early on. But this is a problem if using a vintage pedal like a fuzzface. A germanium fuzzface needs to interact directly with your pickups for the magic clean-up effect to occur when you roll your volume knob down. The pickup and volume knob become part of the fuzz circuit. Other pedals like a germanium treble booster/rangemaster style pedal will sound bad if any buffers are before them- they get bright and nasty sounding. So if you have one of these pedals, put it early in your effects chain before any buffers or buffered pedals.

One contrary pedal is a wah, which is normally used before a fuzz. A vintage wah will not behave well with a fuzz, losing it's tone and sweep. Adding a buffer inside the wah will allow it to function better with the fuzz when the wah is ON. Turning off the wah (with true bypass) kills the buffer so it will also work well when OFF. Foxrox electronics makes a wah retrofit kit which can be added to most vintage style or boutique wahs, and RMC wahs by Teese now include this "fuzz friendly" buffer circuitry.

The reason I do not like too many buffers in your signal path is that the tone changes are additive. Each one will change your tone slightly and can reduce the interaction with and liveliness of your guitar strings. Even though the tone coming out of a good buffer may be very nice, passing it through multiple copies can make it a bit sour. For example if a buffer's frequency response has a nice little peak at 700Hz, after five of these buffers the peak will be five times higher and may get annoying. Also each active component generates noise which also adds up.

I have one buffer (a delay pedal with a nice buffer when off) at the end of my pedalboard to send the signal to my amp on the rare occasion that I have no other pedals turned on. When something like an overdrive or distortion pedal is on, your signal is beefed up strong enough that no buffers are needed afterwards and a direct connection to the amp cannot be beat. As always, there are many variables so it is best to do some trial and error testing with your personal rig to find the best sequence of pedals and buffers for your specific setup. If it sounds good, you should. "

[RAGER]

Yes there is a difference that I don't like when it is in the signal path.  And it's noisy.  If there is a problem somewhere, can delete the tuner out of the equation.

[Chovie D]

wow, mines not noisy

[RacerX]

My 2 cents: If you try to intonate a guitar without a good strobe tuner, don't be surprised if it doesn't end well.

[Chovie D]

My 2 cents: If you try to intonate a guitar without a good strobe tuner, don't be surprised if it doesn't end well.

watchu got Racer? a peterson strobo?

[RAGER]

wow, mines not noisy

there's lots to say about them being noisy on line.  maybe somethings wrong with mine but it tunes just fine and I keep it out of the path anyway so it works for me.

Would like a Peterson though for the bench

[RacerX]

My 2 cents: If you try to intonate a guitar without a good strobe tuner, don't be surprised if it doesn't end well.

watchu got Racer? a peterson strobo?

I own a TU-2 and a clip-on tuner for my own use.

I have a guitar tech with a strobotuner for intonation & setup because I realize that I am a ham-handed accident waiting to happen when it comes to that sort of thing.

[Worthless Willie]

I intonate all my guitars with a TU-3, and it works just fine.  Used a TU-2 for years before that with the same results.

[VOLVO)))]

I used a Korg Pitchblack for intonation, it works fine, but I'd rather have a strobe tuner.

[clockwork green]

The Turbo Tuner is damn impressive despite the retarded name. Super accurate digital strobe and much cheaper than the Peterson.