Looking for a tuner to help me with intonation (i.e., the ability to check tuning at the twelfth fret) for both bass and guitar, hopefully not too expensive.
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Tuner for setup
- Thread starter Batmensch
- Start date
Cliff, I prefer analog meter quartz tuners for this. LCD meters just leave a question mark to me. Must be that I'm getting old now and use to my old tuner I bought in the 80's. I like to see the needle sweep.
That said I got a cheap LCD tuner off eBay for 6 bucks delivered from Hong Kong. Seems to work great when I compare it to the old one.
That said I got a cheap LCD tuner off eBay for 6 bucks delivered from Hong Kong. Seems to work great when I compare it to the old one.
- Jan 17, 2002
- 1,249
- 23
- Disclosures
- I paid for all my gear myself. Well, me and MasterCard.
I strongly prefer strobe-style tuners, as I don't feel anything else is precise enough. I have used a Peterson VSM-1 but now I use a Turbo Tuner. Either of those is plenty precise.
If you are doing setups professionally, then a Strobe Tuner is ideal but they are very expensive. For the average player, doing his own setups, an inexpensive Chromatic electronic tuner is accurate enough to give good intonation. Korg, Boss, Planet Waves are all good and inexpensive, usually costing less than $40.00 I have an older Ibanez Digital tuner that I like because it has a large, lighted display and a sweeping needle and is heavy enough to lay on a bench without a lot of sliding around.
Rocky
Rocky
Didn't anyone notice or read that he wants an inexpensive tuner? I'd love a strobe too but they're kinda pricey.
Oh, I forgot my Android app, thanks Hawkbone. Works great. Still like the analog meter though.
Oh, I forgot my Android app, thanks Hawkbone. Works great. Still like the analog meter though.
Would this one work for setting up 12th fret intonation on a bass or guitar? :
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
LOL, yeah because, we can all hear .01 cents which is what the numbers on the display measures in. C' mon people, please stop saying "strobe"..
LOL.
LOL.
Modern tuners are plenty accurate. Variations in finger pressure while playing will keep the intonation from being perfect anyway. I do recommend a chromatic tuner. You may need it for alternate or down tuning.
mech
mech
96tbird said:LOL, yeah because, we can all hear .01 cents which is what the numbers on the display measures in. C' mon people, please stop saying "strobe"..
I prefer a pitch pipe and in a pinch, a tuning fork will suffice...I still don't trust them quartz stobo-o-matic pitch generators!
Ha ha ha...I kid...I kid.
I typed up another response, then reconsidered it. As to what tuner will suffice for setting up a guitar, I guess that depends. I can tell you that there is, to me, a real and audible difference in the accuracy achievable with a true strobe tuner (not just one with a strobe-type display) than with your standard needle type. I have a nice Korg Orchestral Tuner (about $100; I use it with bowed strings and my electric bass, has a real needle, which I prefer) and have played through various tuning pedals at jams, etc. With both of the aforementioned, when the tuner says my strings are right on, I can hear that they're still just a little off, and tweak by ear. With the Turbo Tuner (I've used both the pedal and non-pedal versions, and got the pedal for my younger brother), which gives you real strobe accuracy, when it says the strings are right on, there's nothing left to tweak; they're RIGHT ON. For that reason, if I were getting a tuner specifically with the intent of using it to set up instruments, I'd get one of those (the non-pedal version, which allows more customizing of temperaments).
I don't have absolute pitch, but I have good relative pitch. I typically get one reference pitch (either aurally, as in getting an "A" from the keyboard, or from a tuner pedal) and tune the other strings relative to that.
The headstock tuners that I've tried have been okay for getting close, but I've not been too impressed with them, and wouldn't use one to intonate an instrument.
Turbo Tuner: Strobe Tuners by Sonic Research - Turbo Tuner Home Page
My Korg (Invalid Link Removed -- $30 less than I paid for it!)
I don't have absolute pitch, but I have good relative pitch. I typically get one reference pitch (either aurally, as in getting an "A" from the keyboard, or from a tuner pedal) and tune the other strings relative to that.
The headstock tuners that I've tried have been okay for getting close, but I've not been too impressed with them, and wouldn't use one to intonate an instrument.
Turbo Tuner: Strobe Tuners by Sonic Research - Turbo Tuner Home Page
My Korg (Invalid Link Removed -- $30 less than I paid for it!)
+1 to the turbo tuner. What's the point of a tuner that you still have to adjust when it says you're in tune? After tuning with it, my acoustic rings truer than when tuned with a cheap tuner. I'd want that sort of accuracy when doing intonation since it isn't easily field-adjustable on stage like out-of-tune strings are.
I don't consider it expensive for what it does.
I don't consider it expensive for what it does.
One more possibility. Saw this tuner -- the DT4 -- on the Korg site. Not positive, but itappears to be a real strobe tuner (there are non-strobe tuners that mimic the display, but aren't any more accurate than the "standard" type). Doesn't seem to have any customizable temperaments like the Turbo Tuners do (even the pedal does, just not as much as the non-pedal version), but user reviews on Amazon say it's accurate and locks on to low notes well. If you search, you can find one for $50. There's one other strobe tuner out now in the $100 range, maybe two, but I forget what. Turbo Tuners the only one I've personally had experience with.
