Which tuner should I buy?

[Chrisk-K]

Compared to Boss tuners I have, the Pitchblack was less accurate.

[Steve Dallman]

We all use Boss TU-3's at church. The TU-3 is a major step up from the old TU-2.

[Caius1991]

KORG pitchblack all the way for me, recently got one to replace my beringher one, never looked back

[ics1974]

Pitch Black for me. I sold my TU-3 and have never looked back.

[RhynoRock]

I bought the Snark SN-10 chromatic pedal tuner, I've been raving about it for a while here in the forums. It has a leg up on the Korg pitchblack in the fact that its on amazon for $35. Plus if you have a power adapter, it has an AC out to power another pedal, which is a nice bonus.

[Bassist30]

Peterson classic. Built extremely well. Peterson has been around for years and a standard with guitar techs. I love mine.
If you have a problem visually with a tuner get something else. There are a good number of fine tuners that are good and capable of doing the job.
I like a strobe tuner and the Peterson Classic is a fine choice. You can download updates via USB which is a nice feature. Some say the note display is to small but I see it perfectly. light or dark its fine with me. But again if you have a visual problem there are many tuners which will do the job. I caught a few that just came out of the NAMM show which you may want to check out.

Check out the video. The peterson Classisc has many features you may want to use. http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=170

[Stone Soup]

I must have had the slowest tracking Pitch Black on the planet. The thing hesitated for a full second or better sometimes, even when I used harmonics. I hated it. Bought a TU-3 and never looked back. I don't hear a difference between the buffered input of the TU-3 and the "true bypass" of the Pitch Black.

[gb_bassclef]

A struggling fretless player, constantly working on my intonation, I'm also looking for a tuner.

Though I use my ears as much as I can, I still need a tuner to help.
With which tuners is it possible to have it work both in silent mode for tuning, and allow me to play while having the note displayed?

Thanks!

[KJung]

Originally Posted by gb_bassclef

A struggling fretless player, constantly working on my intonation, I'm also looking for a tuner.

Though I use my ears as much as I can, I still need a tuner to help.
With which tuners is it possible to have it work both in silent mode for tuning, and allow me to play while having the note displayed?

Thanks!

The Peterson Strobostomp is pretty good for that.

Edit: If you have a tuner out on your amp, any pedal will work. If that is the case, the Sonic Turbo is uber accurate and tracks very quickly. You can set it to 'mute/tuner on' and just run a feed from the tuner out on your amp. Either of these tuners are massively accurate and unforgiving, and will let you know immediately if you are even a few cents off. That can be a good thing for a more advanced fretless player, and a frustrating nightmare for the beginner.

[mazdah]

Originally Posted by gb_bassclef

With which tuners is it possible to have it work both in silent mode for tuning, and allow me to play while having the note displayed?

Thanks!

I strongly suggest Boss TU-3.

I have TU-2 and recently I had a chance to compare it with limited chrome version of Pitchblack.

TU-2 and TU-3 allows you to play while having the note displayed PLUS:
- it mutes super silently (with Korg there was an audible "pop!" when switching on)
- it doesn't turn off when unplug the cable. I'm kinda accustomed to this.
- it is as accurate and fast as Pitchblack
- it has buffered bypass. Saves the signal when long cables are used. The sound on normal/short cables is the same as when you use true bypass pedal - I compared my TU-2 with Pitchblack on two passive P-basses - no audible difference between Korg and Boss, so no need to go for true bypass.... and I assure you - I'm EXTRA picky when it comes to this. I can't even use certain lo fi, cheap cables because I HEAR them affecting on punch of my basses.

Both BOSS tuners are fast and accurate, but TU-3 and Korg Pitbchblack have more accurate display. Once you learn how to read TU-2 display you will most likely have no need to change it for TU-3 or Korg.

[Itzayana]

Peterson strobes are the best and most accurate tuners made.

[jazzbo58]

I really like my Sonic Research ST-200 Strobe tuner. I got this in December and I'm quite happy with it. Tracks notes very quickly.

Cheers,
Jim

[gb_bassclef]

Thanks guys for your advice!

@KJung, I have a Portaflex 350 - no tuner out
So, the Peterson Stobostomp 2 would be for me.

I went to the Peterson website to check out their products, and I discovered the iPad app iStroboSoft. Doesn't have all the features of the Strobostomp, but it's perfect for practice sessions.
At $8.99 what a Sweet deal, even if it doesn't support Sweetened Tunings!

I can setup AudioBus with JamUp Pro and Multitrack DAW, then switch to iStroboSoft, and Bingo! I now have a great setup for working on my intonation. And the response time is great.

EDIT: correction, worked just a minute with JamUp Pro, which goes silent once you switch to iStroboSoft. Seems to work fine wirh other audio apps... Contacting JamUp support...

[plankspanker13]

Originally Posted by Strikebass

Do you happen to know the differences (besides the price) between polytune and polytune mini?

The full-sizer has a DC 9v output, to power other pedals; the mini does not. They are otherwise the same. I have owned both, and still have the mini, on my large board.

I also have a Boss TU-3 on my small board, and it does an equally fine job. I notice no tone suck from it either, but YMMV.

[odin70]

Sonic research!

[klejst]

Hell, I do great with my Boss TU-3 stomp box, but that is just me

[socialleper]

I went with the TC Electronics Polytune. Some of the modes are completely useless for bass, but its still a decent tuner. I got one used for a good price, its very bright, and built pretty well. I get a pop when hit the switch, other than that its good.