tuner question

[Mooch]

Hope this is the right forum(we'll see).

Anyway, I'm not sure how to pose the question so I'll just throw it out and see what comes flying back. I play in a drop Bb tuning. I have 2 different tuner's. A footpedal(can't remember the brand and a little pocket tuner. Now I tune to our tuning on these and its reads them no problem, BUT the guitarists use line 6 amps and have pedal boards. The Bb on their pedal boards always makes me have to tune down to A. Now my question is who is right and how to find out.

Are my tuners having trouble figuring out the correct Bb or are the guitarists pedal boards wrong.

Any help solving this issue would be great since tuning to the guitarist on stage looks tacky as hell.

[Jazz Ad]

Several possibilities here.
Tuners all have an adjustable reference. Typically people use A440 but one of the tuners may be set differently.
Some instrument specific tuners, especially for guitar use a downtune option. You can adjust them to downtune 1 1/2 tones while still reading base string notes.
The tuner from the guitar amp may not track bass properly.

As a general rule, raw chromatic tuners are the best idea. This way you tune knowing which note you're really going to use.

[dalahorse]

Agreed about chromatic tuners being a good idea and verifying reference settings. Also think about a strobe tuner. The moving visual can be very helpful (at least in my opinion).

I find that some tuners sometimes have issues tracking my open E and A strings. But they'll almost always accurately follow their 12'th fret octave harmonics. I tune with harmonics first, then open strings. And note that open strings can read a cent or two sharp for the initial attack.

Also, check the intonation of your bass and the guitars. If your open notes all match up, but everyone tends to drift apart as you all move around your instrument necks, that could be the culprit. There are tons of threads about how to set intonation correctly here, so I won't go into that.