Bass Tuner

[sleestak]

I've never owned a bass tuner in my life. My guitar tuner bit the dust, so I was wondering what other bass players would recommend? A pedal seems like a good idea, although I have never had one of those either.

Any to stay away from?

Thanks in advance!

George

[BassGuitarNerd]

I would think that any tuner would do the job. Make sure you can plug your bass directly into it to get the best results. There are three types. One has a needle that moves left and right, the second has LED Lights that move left and right, and the third clips onto the headstock and feels the vibrations. I don't think that there is a bad type of needle tuner. If you buy a LED tuner however, make sure it has a lot of LEDs to give you a good range, the one on my multiple effects pedal has 13. I haven't used one that clips on but i have seen them. You might want to check them out. I don't think you'll need a pedal. Those tend to cost a lot more than a simple one that is only 20 dollars. Just make sure the one that you're buying is made strong and not with a cheap plastic. It'll take some abuse. If anyone else has something to add feel free to post.

[tplyons]

Wireless, Tuner & Power Conditioner Threads

Moved.

[Rumzini]

Boss TU-2.....end of story.

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by BassGuitarNerd

I would think that any tuner would do the job. Make sure you can plug your bass directly into it to get the best results. There are three types. One has a needle that moves left and right, the second has LED Lights that move left and right, and the third clips onto the headstock and feels the vibrations. I don't think that there is a bad type of needle tuner. If you buy a LED tuner however, make sure it has a lot of LEDs to give you a good range, the one on my multiple effects pedal has 13. I haven't used one that clips on but i have seen them. You might want to check them out. I don't think you'll need a pedal. Those tend to cost a lot more than a simple one that is only 20 dollars. Just make sure the one that you're buying is made strong and not with a cheap plastic. It'll take some abuse. If anyone else has something to add feel free to post.

The one that senses vibrations is called an IntelliTouch tuner. There was some significant discussion on this tuner on the DB side, you should check that out with the search function. They're pretty neat, from what I've read.

I (and a lot of people) use a Korg CA-30. GREAT chromatic tuner. To be honest, I'd reccomend staying away from bass/guitar tuners and going for a chromatic one. I've found it to be VERY useful, especially when I started DB. I don't have any experience with a TU-2, but they're pretty highly regarded here.

[Rockgurl]

I've always used an Arion tuner for both guitar and bass and it's been great. I love it because it has a cool LED display that you can see on the darkest stage, and you can use it as a mute pedal too. It's noiseless and accurate. I've had one of these for about 15 years and it rocks.

[Mojo-Man]

Check out the new Peterson Tuner.
Make everthing else obsalete.

[sleestak]

Great advice so far, keep it coming!

One thing I forgot to mention is that this one band I am playing with for now tunes a step down, does that play into any of these tuners? I also play a five string.

George

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by sleestak

Great advice so far, keep it coming!

One thing I forgot to mention is that this one band I am playing with for now tunes a step down, does that play into any of these tuners? I also play a string.

George

Get a chromatic tuner, and you won't worry about that.

For that matter, if you REALLY need a "bass" tuner (for whatever reason) you can tune the second fret for a perfect E to tune down to an open D. 1st fret for Eb. See how that works?

[Jazzin']

I have the Boss TU-80, it's very precise. I also has many options (more than I need).
-It has a built in metrnome with 7 different "ticking" patterns, you can choose the speed and amount of beats per bar.
-It can play every note for you with a mini speaker, so you may compare the sound that it makes to whatever.
-It has chromatic tuning, guitar tuning, and bass tuning.
-Two LED lights, one for too sharp and one for too flat.
-Digital needle.
-Input and output.
-Microphone.

If you're willing to pay some extra bucks for a tuner, this is perfect. It's about 30$.

[cheezewiz]

After using rack tuners for a while, I simplified and got a Boss TU2 and couldn't be happier. It works very well, is extremely accurate, handles a low B, and doubles as a mute switch.

[QORC]

I used a Fender floor tuner for a while - metal. Very heavy duty. Model PT-10. good for gigging.

however, I got tired of the lead singer accidently hitting the pedal (and muting me) during gigs.

So I recently bought a rack tuner - Sabine RT-7000. Love it.

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by Rockgurl

I've always used an Arion tuner for both guitar and bass and it's been great. I love it because it has a cool LED display that you can see on the darkest stage, and you can use it as a mute pedal too. It's noiseless and accurate. I've had one of these for about 15 years and it rocks.

Unless they did some updating of the Stage Tuner, it's nowhere near the quality of the Boss TU-2. For it's time, the Stage Tuner was great, but it's slow, in the dark it's hard to tell where "center" is, the battery lid is prone to breaking, and the pedal itself is plastic, which is more prone to breaking than the Boss design.

[MAJOR METAL]

I would say Korg or a pedal tunner they seem very solid and reliable.

[Rockgurl]

Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

Unless they did some updating of the Stage Tuner, it's nowhere near the quality of the Boss TU-2. For it's time, the Stage Tuner was great, but it's slow, in the dark it's hard to tell where "center" is, the battery lid is prone to breaking, and the pedal itself is plastic, which is more prone to breaking than the Boss design.

*shrug* Well it's lasted me 15 years so it can't be that bad! I have no trouble finding "center"...it has 3 LED lights, the middle one being green, and I find it really easy to see center, especially in the dark. I'm sure there's lots of designs out there, but I'm giving a recommendation for a product I use and am happy with.

[msquared]

Boss TU2.

[srxplayer]

I just bought a Rocktron X-Tune chromatic floor tuner. It has a very heavy-duty all aluminum case. It's low profile and the Sharp/flat/In-Tune LED's are easy to read and very bright. The actual letter for the strings are harder to see because it's in a chromatic format and the lighted letters are small. It tracks very fast and is very accurate. I have not tried it with a five string yet but so far so good with my Fender Jazz and & Ibanez SRX 4 strings.

It retails for about $59.00 on most of the big stores and on-line retailers.

They run about $40.00 less then the TU-2 and about $30.00 less than a Korg DT-10.

[The Golden Boy]

Originally Posted by Rockgurl

*shrug* Well it's lasted me 15 years so it can't be that bad! I have no trouble finding "center"...it has 3 LED lights, the middle one being green, and I find it really easy to see center, especially in the dark. I'm sure there's lots of designs out there, but I'm giving a recommendation for a product I use and am happy with.

Hey Rockgurl!

I didn't exactly say it was bad! I had one for several years, my two main complaints were that center is hard to find in the dark- the note name moves the dial off to the right. I had to highlight the center position with white out. The clip that holds the battery cover either broke or had bent, consequently I had duck tape holding the cover on- and I've seen several without the battery cover at all. The other big issue, as I remember, is that you couldn't tune in half steps either.

For it's time, the Stage Tuner was great, and I would assume Boss took the basic design idea a bit further, and really made a better tuner.


You can see the dial is centered on the pedal, it has all the features of the Stage Tuner, is fast, goes to low B, and it's as rugged as any other Boss pedal.