Let's settle the tuner placement question!

[Stringmaster]

Ok folks,
I'm fairly new to effects, but in my research I have seen people swear by either putting their tuner at the very begging of their chain, or at the very end. To me having it at the end makes the most sense; Doesn't buffer the sound going into your overdrive pedal, cuts off signal after any interference that your pedals might create or pickup, and it tunes the note at the end if the chain so the not at the end is known to be accurate. The majority of tuners are at the front though, so please tell me where your tuner goes and why.
Thanks

 

[Robertron]

There's no way to "settle" it. Not for every pedalboard anyway.

Some people like it at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the chain. Some people run their signal into a tuner through an extra loop like with the VTBassDLX and other pedals.

When I finally pick up a tuner it's going on my board wherever it fits best, regardless of where it is in the chain.

 

[deBont Amps]

Depending on what effects you use, the tone can be modified is ways it can become unclear for a tuner how to pickup the right frequencies. Let's say you use a flanger and octaver before going into the tuner. It will have a hard time detecting the right note.

So I voted; At the front

 

[strke-fender]

There is also the argument, if the tuner was last and tuned after effects, the properly tuned signal would be sent to the amp and mix

But, I guess effects only really hinder the tracking efficenty of tuners.

I have mine in the tuner out of a volume pedal, Im a neither

 

[jackduran]

At the front, so I get the 'purest/cleanest' signal going into it. direct from my bass.

 

[squashedOpossum]

^+1. You need the cleanest signal going into the tuner. Needs to be in the front.

 

[A Noobcake]

I put it on the front too make sure the effects don't screw with the tuner.

 

[MooseLumps]

There is also the argument, if the tuner was last and tuned after effects, the properly tuned signal would be sent to the amp and mix

But, I guess effects only really hinder the tracking efficenty of tuners.

There is no argument. Putting the tuner last does not make any difference except in being able to detect the pitch of the strings.

That said, Put it wherever you want. Whatever floats your boat.

 

[Headless Llama]

I put mine on the "tuner out" jack... wasn't an option in yer poll.

 

[colcifer]

Tuner out.

 

[Unrepresented]

I put my tuner last in my chain because it's in a rack with my head and all my effects pedals are on my board.

 

[Eric!]

Wherever it fits.

 

[jucas]

Wherever there's room. Usually last because I don't have a big enough board for it to be a problem to turn all my effects off, and a compressor takes up the space at the front on my lunchbox.

 

[EskimoBassist]

Right at the front of my chain, but just as long as it comes before any DIs in my chain that's all that matters to me.

 

[Swift713]

I have mine second to last and use it as a mute before my delay/looper. I don't have a huge signal chain with a bunch of flangers and harmonizers to interfere with tuning.

 

[StereoPlayer]

TUNER out

 

[Jake of Bass]

I always have it first. Makes the most sense to me. Also, yesterday I was looking at a couple youtube vids with Tool and Muse's bass/guitar techs, they put their tuners first too so that's good enough for me...

 

[bigchiefbc]

Neither of the above. I have it in the tuner out of my amp.

 

[TOOL460002]

+1 in rack as part of power conditioner.

i can see the value of having it in ones signal chain as a kill switch, but ive already got that under control, and rarely need to retune (maybe if the keys get smashed into something).

i can also see the other option as being on a ring mod frequency out to dial in the exact note youre looking for.

 

[My name is Mudd]

Last, so I can use it as a mute...but I don't try to tune thru anything that's turned on (other than my VT, which I use as an always-on pre), so position doesn't make much of a difference beyond muting.

- editing to say that I asked the same question a year or so ago and the results were pretty much evenly split then....interesting that it's now definitely front-heavy.