tuners

[tc4b]

I'm buying a tuner. What significant adventages do I sacrifice if I opt for a floor pedal (korg has a swell one, or boss) instead of a rackmount? Thanks.

 

[easychair]

You can't mount it in a rack.



I think rack mounts only make sense if you have other gear racked up already.

 

[ggunn]

I'm buying a tuner. What significant adventages do I sacrifice if I opt for a floor pedal (korg has a swell one, or boss) instead of a rackmount? Thanks.

I would get one with a sweep needle over one with just LED's.

 

[Monkey Allen]

If you buy a tuner, buy a good one or the one you do buy will end up slumped and smashed in a corner at the foot of a wall.

 

[SteveK]

If you can afford it, the Peterson Strobostomp is the best, most accurate pedal tuner on the market. But it's pretty steep @ $189.

 

[Pughbert]

i use a simple £20 tuner. Its perfectly accurate, far more accurate than any human ear would be in detecting tuning mistakes. Its also lasted me 6 yrs so far, not a scratch. Its a quicktune one.

 

[SteveK]

i use a simple £20 tuner. Its perfectly accurate, far more accurate than any human ear would be in detecting tuning mistakes. Its also lasted me 6 yrs so far, not a scratch. Its a quicktune one.

I have to differ. I used a Boss TU-2 on my pedal board for years. When I switched to Peterson the difference was audible immediately. Especially when using it to set/check intonation also. Just my $.02

 

[sile2001]

If you can afford it, the Peterson Strobostomp is the best, most accurate pedal tuner on the market. But it's pretty steep @ $189.

I'll second this, if you can scrape up the funds. If you were talking about rackmount tuners, then you're probably already pretty close in price range. These things are unbelievable... I've never heard my guitar or bass sound so pure.

 

[Light]

i use a simple £20 tuner. Its perfectly accurate, far more accurate than any human ear would be in detecting tuning mistakes.

Actually, it's not. The average human ear can hear tuning discrepencies of just less than one cent. The average electronic tuner (anything other than a strobe) is only acurate to within about 2-3 cents, at best. They say they are more acurate than that, but they are talking about laboratory conditions which never exist in real life. In real life, they aren't even close.

For setting intonation, you need a strobe, but for getting your guitar in tune, you need to use your ear, because you guitar will never really sound in tune unless you tune it by ear. You don't want it to be perfectly "in tune" acording to the US Standards deparment, becuase that doesn't compensate for stretched thirds and such. (A perfect third, minor or major, sounds flat to the human ear.) You need to learn how to get your guitar in tune by ear, and then learn what "in tune" to you looks like on your tuner, if you are going to use one at all.

Personally, I usually have to tune differently for different songs. For instance, I do a version of Sting's "I'm Mad About You," and if I leave my guitar the way I normally tune it (which sounds great for most of what I do), the first chord in the bridge sounds like shit. So I have to tune to THAT chord before the song starts, and then the whole song sound just right.

Oh, and if you are going to use a tuner, get a strobe. Built like a tank, and FAR more acurate than anything else on the market. A strobe actually IS more acurate than the human ear, and in real world conditions too.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[andydeedpoll]

You don't want it to be perfectly "in tune" acording to the US Standards deparment, becuase that doesn't compensate for stretched thirds and such. (A perfect third, minor or major, sounds flat to the human ear.)

thats really interesting... do you know why that is? i've found i can normally tune my guitars and trombone to within about +/- 2 or 3 cents... but they always but always appear to sound better - cleaner and sharper (in tune, i suppose ) when i get it on the green light, with any tuner that is actually working. i'm going to listen out really carefully now when i'm playing, because i didn't expect that at all.

thanks

Andy