can any clip-on tuner do this?

I would expect any clip-on tuner to do both.

Mine does. (Cheap house brand.)

 

Thye all do, to an extend. If you plan to tune a 2 year old B string 3 feet from a Marshall stack it will prove difficult.

 

I just purchased a D'Addario Eclipse (@$22), specifically because I was told it would track a B string....lo and behold, it does it better than the clip-ons I own that cost double that.
My only complaint is that the blue lights that indicate when a string is in tune can be hard to see.
Also, it's plastic, so I'm hoping that it'll hold up; for that price, it's worth gicing it a shot!

 

TC Electronic UniTune

 

Because clip-ons pick up the vibration of the body, rather than an electrical signal, anything loud enough will interfere with them. All of them.

 

I’ve had a Snark tuner that is probably the model they came out with when they were first introduced. If not the original design, it’s pretty close. My Snark tuner has never had a problem with room noise or a low B.
I have had a few clip on tuners that were free/no name. They didn’t work so well. They were the country of unknown origin. (hey, someone cross-ref this to the random band name thread)....
You know, the kind that vendors throw in if you buy a long enough cable, expensive enough pedal, etc. The unknown brand x clip on tuners were shaky at best and practically non usable on a bass let alone a B string.
I haven’t used my Snark tuner much lately. Have gone to a pedal tuner. I have loaned it to band mates from time to time. It lives in my gig bag as a backup. No complaints from anyone who’s borrowed it.
I am now using a polytune pedal tuner. Recommend that highly BTW. If polytune makes as good a clip-on as their pedal tuner, it should be a consideration. You could probably try out a headstock tuner at any Guitar Center in a Saturday afternoon. If it can survive the usual cast of thrash-metal wanna-be test drivers, buy it.

 

Korg Pitchcrow:



It also has a FINE setting that you can use for setting intonation.

 

Few tuners are completely immune to room noise, due to how they work. The good news is that as soon as you hit a string on your bass, the vibrations will drown out everything else.

 

I have never had good luck with a clip on tuner for LowB
I use a Sonic Research Strobe Tuner
Most accurate
Duke

 

I use a Polytune clip tuner and so far haven't had any problems tuning my bass with a drummer tuning his kit or a guitarist warming up. I also use a Polytune pedal tuner on my pedalboard and I like it a lot, easy to see display and it reads the pitch very quickly.

 

When I tune my low D (detuner on my E), I always check on the 12th fret harmonic. It tracks more quickly.

 

TC Polytune Clip.

 

Does anybody actually try to tune their low B by plucking the open string?!?!

12th fret harmonic ftw!