New tuner time after nearly 20 years..

[LowWay]

+1 on turbo tuner. Mine got lost in a move, and I'm using the peterson, which like, but I miss the turbo tuner. I'm excited to see there is a new one coming in the fall (fingers crossed).

 

[bullshark]

13 years ago I got a Korg Pitchblack because I have extremely low vision and it was the only pedal tuner I could find that I could see. I've had zero issues with it, not sure what else I'd want a tuner to do other than get me in tune, which it does perfectly well, at least for blues!

Same. It's also buffered so you don't need top add a buffer to your pedalboard, and it's easy to read even in daylight.

 

[J Wilson]

KORG OT120 Orchestral w/case. I don't have much luck with clip-ons, don't use a pedal board, and this style of tuner is born of experience from my early days: It has a pitch generator and speaker to get me 'in the neighborhood' pitch-wise when I re-string, Early on, I'd break new strings tuning up at replacement time. Reads Low B easily, over/under arrows, lighted dial, offsets for horn tuning, etc., in its own little case.

Maybe not for everyone, but suits me like a glove.

 

[pbass2]

Whatever you buy, please don't throw away that ST-200. Sell it (Cheap! (To me!)) I need a third for my backup to my backup.

Ha ha yeah well I will keep it in my studio. As it is it’s just not reliable now for gigs or sessions. Still tunes, just can’t rely on the output!

 

[rockear]

Ha ha yeah well I will keep it in my studio. As it is it’s just not reliable now for gigs or sessions. Still tunes, just can’t rely on the output!

Very fair. Someone probably already mentioned this, but you might try squirting a little DeOxit into the switch and working it a couple dozen times. Might clear up your issues and save doing anything more invasive.

 

[aguacateojos]

For on-the-go and battery I will only stop owning a little black Korg tuner when they stop making them.

 

[SactoBass]

My trusty Sonic Research ST-200 is after nearly 20 years of constant use is starting to exhibit some funkiness--the switch I think. Not a bad run.
Was gonna just grab the Peterson Strobostomp ('cause, I mean, Peterson), but I see the Walrus Canvas out there in the world pretty often lately. Both have more features than I need. I just want robust, pop-free switching, and of course as accurate as I can get (I do some of my own setups). Any observations on the reliability of these? Anything with lots of bells and whistles (like the Canvas for example) always makes me nervous.
EDIT: Ooops, just realized the Canvas can't run with a battery, so that's out. I still like to grab and go with just a tuner w/battery for some little gigs w/o my board. C'est la vie, I answered my own question (would delete post but can't ).

Well, I've had my Peterson Strobostomp HD for years, and it has been rock solid reliable and very accurate. I like that it has pop-free switching, and you can choose between true-bypass or buffered. I've never used the Walrus so I have no comment on that one.

 

[winegamd]

I was using a Polytune since it has a strobe mode and supposedly the same resolution as a Peterson. The individual LED's got annoying and I feel that it didnt track well for the low E and B of my six string.

I Changed to a Peterson Strobostomp mini. Works much better on the low notes and the fine increments are much easier to see on the full LED display. My basses seem way more in tune with the keyboardist now.

 

[klyph]

View attachment 7474380

KORG OT120 Orchestral w/case. I don't have much luck with clip-ons, don't use a pedal board, and this style of tuner is born of experience from my early days: It has a pitch generator and speaker to get me 'in the neighborhood' pitch-wise when I re-string, Early on, I'd break new strings tuning up at replacement time. Reads Low B easily, over/under arrows, lighted dial, offsets for horn tuning, etc., in its own little case.

Maybe not for everyone, but suits me like a glove.

You left out one of the best parts- it runs a ridiculously long time on 2 AAA batteries. I don’t think you could really put it on a pedalboard- the display is too small for see on the floor, but it is a great tuner. It’s got many of the calibration and mode features of a Peterson in a tiny package. It’s VERY fast and accurate, and the display shows which octave you are tuning in. I think the input is high impedance so you can use a little clip on microphone (sold separately). They’re made specifically for acoustic tuning- they’re popular with Woodwind players- so I guess they’re “overkill “ for electric bass. I love mine.

 

[frankie5string]

You left out one of the best parts- it runs a ridiculously long time on 2 AAA batteries. I don’t think you could really put it on a pedalboard- the display is too small for see on the floor, but it is a great tuner. It’s got many of the calibration and mode features of a Peterson in a tiny package. It’s VERY fast and accurate, and the display shows which octave you are tuning in. I think the input is high impedance so you can use a little clip on microphone (sold separately). They’re made specifically for acoustic tuning- they’re popular with Woodwind players- so I guess they’re “overkill “ for electric bass. I love mine.

I think the last time I changed the batteries on my Boss Tu-12EX (two AAAs) is probably about 4 years ago...
We had a bunch of those Korg OT120 tuners in the private music rooms - bought when they came out, while the main room had a big Conn-Peterson...

 

[pbass2]

Well, I've had my Peterson Strobostomp HD for years, and it has been rock solid reliable and very accurate. I like that it has pop-free switching, and you can choose between true-bypass or buffered. I've never used the Walrus so I have no comment on that one.

Do you use yours in true-bypass or buffered? Does the buffer affect the tone? It is a preamp, essentially, as I understand it. My first instinct would be to use True Bypass, but interesting that the default mode is "Buffered Bypass / Monitor Mode". Waiting for mine to arrive so I can check it out. I only run two pedals after my tuner, and usually no long cable runs to the DI/amp.

 

[SactoBass]

Do you use yours in true-bypass or buffered? Does the buffer affect the tone? It is a preamp, essentially, as I understand it. My first instinct would be to use True Bypass, but interesting that the default mode is "Buffered Bypass / Monitor Mode". Waiting for mine to arrive so I can check it out. I only run two pedals after my tuner, and usually no long cable runs to the DI/amp.

I just run it true bypass because, like you, I only have a couple of pedals after it and I don't have long cable runs after my pedals. So I've never used it in buffer mode. As I understand it, a buffer isn't a preamp. It's an impedance converter. It just changes the impedance of the signal from high impedance to a lower impedance which can help maintain the higher frequencies when using lots of pedals and/or using long cable runs downstream of the pedals. I know there are a bunch of vids on YT that talk about what a buffer is and isn't, but here's a vid that I think does a really good job of explaining it (at least it helped *ME* understand it better)......

 

[pbass2]

I just run it true bypass because, like you, I only have a couple of pedals after it and I don't have long cable runs after my pedals. So I've never used it in buffer mode. As I understand it, a buffer isn't a preamp. It's an impedance converter. It just changes the impedance of the signal from high impedance to a lower impedance which can help maintain the higher frequencies when using lots of pedals and/or using long cable runs downstream of the pedals. I know there are a bunch of vids on YT that talk about what a buffer is and isn't, but here's a vid that I think does a really good job of explaining it (at least it helped *ME* understand it better)......

Just got mine. Yep, gonna just do True Bypass. Man it's a pretty chonky form factor, bigger than I expected. Huge display compared to what I'm used to. Certainly seems sturdy. So far so good. I do notice a slight delay for the display to turn off when I've unmuted it--the output comes on straight away, but the display takes a fraction of a second to turn off. No biggee.

 

[frankie5string]

Just got mine. Yep, gonna just do True Bypass. Man it's a pretty chonky form factor, bigger than I expected. Huge display compared to what I'm used to. Certainly seems sturdy. So far so good. I do notice a slight delay for the display to turn off when I've unmuted it--the output comes on straight away, but the display takes a fraction of a second to turn off. No biggee.

I think that's from the way the relay switches to give you True Bypass... The mute relay and the shutdown are timed slightly to prevent noises from the engage/disengage order.

 

[andare]

Before you buy the Peterson be aware that it's slower than the TT to turn on and slower at tracking. Also the viewing angles are narrow. These two things make it annoying for me for stage use. As always YMMV

I have no such issues with the Poly tune.

I use a Pitchblack as well and the switch has started popping and not always engaging. It's probably just a simple switch to replace.

 

[sunbeast]

I just run it true bypass because, like you, I only have a couple of pedals after it and I don't have long cable runs after my pedals. So I've never used it in buffer mode. As I understand it, a buffer isn't a preamp. It's an impedance converter. It just changes the impedance of the signal from high impedance to a lower impedance which can help maintain the higher frequencies when using lots of pedals and/or using long cable runs downstream of the pedals. I know there are a bunch of vids on YT that talk about what a buffer is and isn't, but here's a vid that I think does a really good job of explaining it (at least it helped *ME* understand it better)......

A buffer is using an amplification stage to lower the impedance, just with the gain fixed somewhere close to unity (since the purpose of this amplification stage isn't actually amplification when used in a buffer) and usually with a flat frequency response. Most actual "preamps" can have a similar effect as long as they are designed for a flat response. Of course "preamp" means all sorts of different things these days though!

 

[pbass2]

Before you buy the Peterson be aware that it's slower than the TT to turn on and slower at tracking. Also the viewing angles are narrow. These two things make it annoying for me for stage use. As always YMMV

I have no such issues with the Poly tune.

I use a Pitchblack as well and the switch has started popping and not always engaging. It's probably just a simple switch to replace.

I did get the Peterson and yep, it is slower for sure. I think it won't be a deal-breaker, I'll probably get used to it.
First gig with it yesterday outdoors, in the sun. Turns out with sunglasses on I could barely read it! Maybe I need to try a different color display.

 

[Aloe]

I ended up to get a Peterson as well.

my Turbo had developed a problem, probably in the input jack (and it's PCB mounted, I believe, so not easy to replace without proper tools) and started to cut off my bass. plugging the input jack off and on fixes it, but recently it just cut the sound at the mid of the song.