Now, I know the rule is that tuner threads are supposed to go in "Misc", not "Effects", but for at least a year all of them that I've seen have been in "Effects", so here we are. Mods can move it if they wish.
Back story: My Strobostomp started acting up a few months ago, making weird digital glitchy noises. I verified that it was nothing simple/mechanical that I could fix, and that it would cost a minimum of $80 (including postage both ways) for Peterson to fix it. So I dumped it and got a Korg DT10. I had the damnedest time trying to get a clean, quick reading on the low B with that Korg, in spite of the
dozens of posts I had read saying "my Korg tunes the low B just fine". I don't know if I was doing something wrong, or if I just have a different understanding of the phrase "just fine", but I could not get a clean low B reading in under half a minute. Whenever it can't quite read the pitch, it just acts like there's no signal at all. So I grew very frustrated and unloaded it quickly- even if I
was doing something "wrong", I never had an issue with the Strobostomp, and I hate fighting with stupid gear. So what next? A new Strobo2 or Stroboflip at $200?
Or the Turbo Tuner at $130?
It's a strobe tuner, not a strobe emulation. They claim an accuracy of
under .01 cents, guaranteed to stay within .02 cents for the life of the product or they'll recalibrate it free. It has a ton of eccentric programmable tuning options that most of us will never use.
It works fantastically on the lowest notes! It gives an instantaneous reaction to every little change to the pitch and amplitude regardless of whether the string is anywhere near the 12 tone scale, and regardless of how low you go. I was able to quickly and easily detune down to low D with a solid, consistent reading on the LEDs. I even got a decent low C#. Below that it was not able to grab a pitch, but I actually am pretty sure that was because I was detuning a .130 string at 34" scale, not because of any inability on the part of the tuner. It actually grabs those lowest frequencies
faster than the Strobo- the LEDs actually react instantaneously, no waiting for the computer brain to process the signal.
The LED readout is clear, bright, and intuitive (once you know how strobe tuners read). Unfortunately it's a bit small. And the LCD screen is way, way too small. If it's on the floor and you're standing, you can probably read the LEDs OK but not the LCD. In bright sun or stage light though even the LEDs would be difficult to see.
Also it's in a plastic housing, with no bypass switch. It's just "on", in series with your signal path. I tested it pretty carefully and did not hear
any alteration of my signal with it in the chain; but I only have an active bass right now, I'll have to test it again with a passive. Either way I'll probably make or buy a little A/B switch box for it, just for muting. Another annoyance is the location of the DC jack, off the top right. On a crowded board that would be inconvenient.
So, long story short: I love it
for tuning. It's faster than the Strobo and
far superior to any of the cheaper tuners in terms of reading difficult signals. It's
not well designed for live gigging pedalboard use, but I am willing to live with that for my purposes. It delivers top-quality pro accuracy at a much lower price than Peterson.
