Tuner Choices

[tekbow]

Fairly boring subject.. Tuners aren't exactly exciting, however, for years Ive never had a tru floor based tuner. Used a TU-12H which is very accurate, and great for setting intonation, but not exactly ideal on the floor, and given that Im using floyds when playing out much less than i used to, i feel i need a good pedal tuner.

Done my research, and came up with a couple options, and am open to suggestions, but before i link em i have some parameters.

-Has to be a strobe/strobe based tuner.
-I don't want a polytune. , although the idea of seeing at a glance what the state of your tuning is, is great, you can only tune one string at a time but i would hope my ears would tell me if somethings not right. I get that it's very accurate too, but if i can have something with increased accuravy, thats even better.

Thats about it ;)

What i was thinking about.

http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=170
http://www.turbo-tuner.com/pages/manual-st2.htm

the peterson seems to have a bunch of added functionality, including Buzz Feiten compatibility (don't have a BF system on any of my guitars) and sweetened tunings preprogrammed in. With sweetened tunings, I've heard they're great for certain chords in certain positions, but not for others so.. not sure exactly how much benefit that will give me. It's also very very accurate.

The TT's thing seems to be tracking speed and EXTREME accuracy (0.02 cents) without a lot of extra fluff, also it's in a much smaller footprint box. However it seems that with LED's it maybe harder to see in bright light. Its a little cheaper than the peterson and i think a little more nondescript (good thing) than the peterson.

Here's a vid, looks like the previous version of the Peterson, so maybe they've improved on the tracking, although admittedly the tracking isn't really an issue in real terms, only in comparison to the turbo tuner, and the vid is 4 years old. See the end of the vid for an example when the peterson starts to lock up, a bit gimmicky, but impressive none the less. 2nd vid is the current peterson stomp classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bY9H7ec6_0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcVFNicsPJI

Opinions, thoughts, other suggestions?

[Kiichi]

Well, I own a Peterson Strobe Clip on Tuner and I really really dig it. The precision is insane and you quickly adjust to the strobe interface which then makes tuning really easy, I can work nice and fast with it.
The sweetened tunings are as you say. I generally like them a lot, though you sometimes encounter situation where they are suboptimal. Once you have an idea where their weakpoints are they are great though imho.
I also find it nice that you can set the reference pitch, choose between normal and sustain mode for very attack heavy instruments without much natural sustain, can set the key you want to tune in, a load of sweetened tuninings, etc.

For me it is pretty much all I could want out of a tuner. Precise, nice to use and able to adept to pretty much any circumstance.

I will in due time add a stomp version to my rack too as the clip on is great for me (use it for acoustic guitars and ukuleles without pickups too) but in some situations a stomp is preferable for me.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Peterson seems to be the choice for strobe tuners, at least in the brief time I spent searching for a good tuner. My search stopped at the Pitchblack.

[tekbow]

yeah, i'm seeing that a lot, and believe it to be the case, but whats made me indecisive about the 2 is that any direct comparisons seem to be a close call with the Turbo Tuner winning out on sheer speed and accuracy, but the peterson having more features.

also seeing a lot of reviews where TT's have replaced Petersons on peoples boards.

[FELINEGUITARS]

You won't go wrong with either
I have a stomp classic - bought it because it looks just like my old Conn strobe tuner, but have tried the TT as well and it's great.

[d1dsj]

I had a Strobo and it was great until the switch started popping. Mine was a Strobo 1 and although at the time they were reported to have fragile display mine was fine. I got used to it and could tune up pretty darn quick. I gave it to a mate who needed a good tuner ( I couldn't sell it knowing the switch was noisy anyway) and it's still going strong! I did however get a Polytune and whilst it's OK I found the Poly mode was not very accurate, I prefer the stobe mode. I still have it but ended up with a Turbo Tuner which I really like. The display is bright, I've never had any issues, it's so quick to track the note and all in a really solid and compact case. I can't see me needing another tuner for live use. I do however still have a Peterson desk top Strobe for set ups and it's ideal.

[Dmoney]

I use a TT and have done on tours for a few years now. It's accurate and hard as nails. Never let me down. The footprint is good and I got it because I read reports of the Peterson being less than robust and because I wanted something more accurate than my TU-2 I was using originally. I've had pedals broken by people running across the stage and kicking them away from me (broke a HBE wah that way). No problems with the LED's. It did confuse other members of the band when they asked to borrow a tuner.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

I've got a peterson strobosoft and the clip on tuner, they are disturbingly accurate...I'd go for peterson

[Plenum n Heather]

Depending on your other pedals you may or may NOT want true bypass...

[tekbow]

Depending on your other pedals you may or may NOT want true bypass...

Oh yeah definitely, dont worry though, i'm a pedal freak so i know where im at with what plays nicely with what, am all about Ge Fuzzes.

I think, all things considered, price, accuracy, hard as F***ness, and given i'm a "doing one thing really well" kinda guy, It's going to be the TT for me.

Anyone has anything further they want to add though, feel free, especially further elaboration (Thanks Kilchi!) on the whole "sweetened tunings" thing

Cheers Guys!

[HTH AMPS]

I use a TC Polytune... fast tracking, true bypass, solid construction.