Tuner pedal at the front or the end?

[5StringThunder]

I've seen people put there tuners in all sorts of places, the beginning, the middle, and the end. Where do you put yours and why?

Personally, I like mine at the beginning because that's the cleanest signal that it's going to get to ensure the best tuning. I also functions as a mute, which is why some people like it at the end, to kill pedal noise. I've always run a noise gate last to take care of that.

So where do you put yours and why?

 

[FretNoMore]

I've had it in several different places, mostly at the front, but lately I like it at the end so it mutes everything before it. The latest remake of my board has it second to last, just because it was the best way of squeezing all the pedals in.

 

[RickenBoogie]

First assures a clean signal, and clean is good.

 

[JimmyM]

I get a clean enough signal putting mine last, so I put it last. No real reason...just seems fitting to put it last.

 

[mmbongo]

Definitely towards the front.

 

[seanm]

I always put it first. That way, if I leave a distortion pedal on by mistake it doesn't affect the tuner. Like others have said: clean is good!

And I have passive basses. My Boss TU2 has a buffered input which helps on longer cable runs.

 

[Sam Evans]

The tuner out jack of my amp.

 

[jaywa]

Mine is the first thing to get signal whether from the bass cable or my wireless receiver. Everything else comes afterward.

 

[Joe Louvar]

If I used an inline tuner, I’d put it in front. No real reason why. I rarely need to tune more than once, so my little pocket tuner just sits on top of my amp.

 

[48thStreetCustom]

I put it at the end and use it as a mute. Cuts out any slight noise that the other pedals might add

 

[Mark Nye]

I was always told by my pro guitar tech friends that the tuner should always go first. They work for folks we've all heard on the radio, so I tend to take them at their word on these matters.

 

[edpal]

Either in the tuner out by itself or... My zoom mlti-effects pedal B2.1u has a tuner and mute so I have it in my effect loop with the effects percentage at 100 on the amp. 100% muting, 100% clean signal for tuning., 100% of the effect as I choose. Auxiliary footswitch to turn pedal on/off/tune - easier than trying to hit it's buttons and cleaner in my stage space..... I keep the pedal over to the side by the drummer where I can see it nicely and keep up good contact with him.

 

[Tim_Mofunk]

Always had it first. Always thought about putting it second last before a delay. That way it acts as a mute but allows the delay tails.

 

[fishtx]

first...just always have...

 

[seanm]

I put it at the end and use it as a mute. Cuts out any slight noise that the other pedals might add

Use better pedals? Just kidding..... I never had more than three pedals after the tuner and usually only one or two. All the pedals (except a Sansamp BDDI when I had 3 pedals) where true bypass. So noise was not a problem.

Now I have no effects and the tuner is in the tuner out.

 

[5StringThunder]

Another thing that occurred to me is that if use a boss TU-2, or other pedal with a buffer in it you get some of your signal back that gets lost with a long cable. (I think someone mentioned this already).

 

[Jazzdogg]

The first pedal I use is an HPF/Pre, because its 10 MegOhm impedance suits my piezo pickups very well, while posing no problems for my electric basses. Next comes my tuner, followed by the Fishman two-channel Parametric EQ I use with DB; when I mute to tune, the tuner kills the signal to FOH, and the sound man breathes a sigh of relief.

 

[JohnDeereJack]

Yup, I'm another one for having the tuner at the start of your pedal chain.

 

[peddles]

I always run it before my EHX Freeze. I use it as a mute usually earlier in my chain and I can fiddle with the freeze, generate some noise and not have to worry about my bass.

 

[Chaddycakes]

I started I thread about this a while ago. More attention on this one. I personally use the tuner out from my volume to avoid the buffer since the volume mutes for me. Before that, I put it AFTER my compressor (MB Compressore). At the time, I was using three buffered pedals, and I had yet to realize that so many buffers sucks a lot of tone, and I had discovered that not compressing one of them was helpful. That being said, since I have started running any extra buffered pedals above one through a send/return, effectively removing them from my circuit, I have found that a buffer is helpful, though it is still located second in my circuit after my compressor.