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Tuner pedal at the front or the end?
- Thread starter 5StringThunder
- Start date
Front because it's the most uncolored tone you'll get from your bass... And I can mute everything when it's at the front.
Depends. If it's true bypass, then first; if not, like a Boss TU-2/3, I'll put it at the end, especially if I have compressor or drive pedals (as those tend to increase the noise floor of everything in front, including buffered pedals like the Boss unit).
To paraphrase the Doctor's oath, a tuner pedal should do no harm to the signal path.
To paraphrase the Doctor's oath, a tuner pedal should do no harm to the signal path.
I've always put it first, but I'm trying it last for the first time this week. Sometimes I switch off pedals between songs when it's quite, and I'm always afraid the true bypass pops might be coming through (never had a complaint though). I don't run much dirt or crazy effects so I think it should read fine.
I always put it first. I want the cleanest signal going to it. It still functions as a mute just fine.
Some things I can do with the tuner last is for instance set the compressor levels silently while looking at the metering LEDs, and swap out or reorder pedals on the board without getting pops in the amp. Granted, neither is something I do very often, and you can of course reach over to the amp and lower the volume instead. 
- Jan 11, 2008
- 1,373
- 155
- 45
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Aguilar, D'Addario
At the end is a great way to make sure signal is getting through a complex chain... if it gets to the last pedal and you're able to tune, and no sound, then the problem lies either in the amp or the hands of the FOH engineer...
J
J
last!
I use it as JohnDavisNYC said to assess my chain and also to further extended the range of my EHX HOG (or limit it)
I use the min knob on my exp pedal and use it to bring up the min range.
i.e.: let's say I want a 5th that I can whammy up to a +1 OCT. On the HOG you set it to oct bend, orig going up +1 then I set the min knob (using my tuner) to a 5th.
Now I have a 5th with toe up and +1OCT with toe down. I can do that with any interval on the HOG giving me limitless pitch-shifting fun.
I use it as JohnDavisNYC said to assess my chain and also to further extended the range of my EHX HOG (or limit it)
I use the min knob on my exp pedal and use it to bring up the min range.
i.e.: let's say I want a 5th that I can whammy up to a +1 OCT. On the HOG you set it to oct bend, orig going up +1 then I set the min knob (using my tuner) to a 5th.
Now I have a 5th with toe up and +1OCT with toe down. I can do that with any interval on the HOG giving me limitless pitch-shifting fun.
+1 to putting it after everything but delay! Delay trails own the world.
I always put mine DEAD LAST, just before my di (I don't use an amp on my weekly gig 99% of the time, just di to house). The way I've always thought about it was this:
I run 9 pedals. That's a lot of little patch cable. That's a lot of dc. That's a lot of capacitors. That's a lot of solder. That's a lot of room for something to go wrong!!! So, if something does happen to go wrong and the ungodly gurgles of the demonic underworld randomly take over my sound (which never has happened...yet...) I can reach to that tuner and mute EVERYTHING quickly. Kinda like a "kill-switch" for my entire rig. I could then unplug from my chain, go right into the tuner (or just past whatever pedal caused the problem) and un-mute and continue like nothing happened. I guess it makes me feel better to have a plan!
All of my current pedals are true bypass (though I'm not opposed to buffered), so I don't feel I've had any problems with accurate tuning (and I'm obsessive about tuning and intonation) so for me keeping it at the very end really works.
I always put mine DEAD LAST, just before my di (I don't use an amp on my weekly gig 99% of the time, just di to house). The way I've always thought about it was this:
I run 9 pedals. That's a lot of little patch cable. That's a lot of dc. That's a lot of capacitors. That's a lot of solder. That's a lot of room for something to go wrong!!! So, if something does happen to go wrong and the ungodly gurgles of the demonic underworld randomly take over my sound (which never has happened...yet...) I can reach to that tuner and mute EVERYTHING quickly. Kinda like a "kill-switch" for my entire rig. I could then unplug from my chain, go right into the tuner (or just past whatever pedal caused the problem) and un-mute and continue like nothing happened. I guess it makes me feel better to have a plan!
All of my current pedals are true bypass (though I'm not opposed to buffered), so I don't feel I've had any problems with accurate tuning (and I'm obsessive about tuning and intonation) so for me keeping it at the very end really works.
I currently have it first in line, but ya know... this makes a lot of sense. May have to rearrange some things.
Last, for three reasons:
(1) I always have my fuzz first, because it seems to react better that way.
(2) Since I use the tuner as a mute, it seems logical to have it at the end of the chain.
(3) My tuner has side jacks, whereas most of my pedals are top mounted, so the cables are slightly cleaner on stage with a side-jacked pedal going out to the amp.
(1) I always have my fuzz first, because it seems to react better that way.
(2) Since I use the tuner as a mute, it seems logical to have it at the end of the chain.
(3) My tuner has side jacks, whereas most of my pedals are top mounted, so the cables are slightly cleaner on stage with a side-jacked pedal going out to the amp.
I've always run mine first, for the cleanest signal. Some of the reasons given to put it last are compelling, though.
You guys that run it last, do you turn everything off every time you tune? or, do you run it before any always-on pedals you may have? Seems like if you have 1 or 2 always-ons, you'd have to hit 2-3 switches just to tune if the tuner is dead last.
thanks,
Jeremy
You guys that run it last, do you turn everything off every time you tune? or, do you run it before any always-on pedals you may have? Seems like if you have 1 or 2 always-ons, you'd have to hit 2-3 switches just to tune if the tuner is dead last.
thanks,
Jeremy
I run my tuner at the end of my pedal train on a radial bigshot efx loop pedal. The only reason it's at the end is because I have my flanger and delay on one loop and always have those pedals at the end. If I didn't use the radial efx loop I'd probably have it at the beginning
For me, the only always-on is a BBE Sonic Stomp, so I am ok with leaving it on to tune. I would also be ok with leaving on something like a compressor, an eq, or anything else "clean". I could see this being a problem if you have any "dirty" always-on pedals like an od. Prob wanna turn those off to tune!
I've always had my tuner first. Didn't really give it much thought. Tuning a clean signal just seemed to be the right thing to do. And I've never had a problem with noisy pedals. But putting it last is intriguing, so I may have to try it.
My tuner (Polytune) is last in the chain and for fun I just tried tuning with every pedal on ... no problem expected with thumpinator, buffer, compressor and eq, but then there are also the envelope filter, octaver, phaser, chorus and four overdrives ...
With everything turned on the sound is a mess, but surprisingly the tuning works quite well. It hesitates a little on the E and B, and did not like it when I detuned the chorus, which is understandable, but other than that the tuner actually had no problem finding the note.
How about that for needing a clean signal to tune.
With everything turned on the sound is a mess, but surprisingly the tuning works quite well. It hesitates a little on the E and B, and did not like it when I detuned the chorus, which is understandable, but other than that the tuner actually had no problem finding the note.
How about that for needing a clean signal to tune.
I usually like my tuner (Korg Pitchblack) at the end of the chain, but for space reasons, it is first currently. I did this to avoid unnecessarily long cable runs to the back of my board from my true-bypass strip in the front.
I like it at the end of the chain so that in the event of an emergency (complete signal loss, etc.) I can mute the board and immediately determine of the signal from my bass is making it that far to the end of the chain. That way I know if there is a dead patch cable on my board or my bass isn't working or whatever, without having to unplug everything and check the bass-straight-to-the-amp signal.
FWIW, I have never experienced a problem with tracking or the tuner's ability to do it's job from the end of the chain.
I like it at the end of the chain so that in the event of an emergency (complete signal loss, etc.) I can mute the board and immediately determine of the signal from my bass is making it that far to the end of the chain. That way I know if there is a dead patch cable on my board or my bass isn't working or whatever, without having to unplug everything and check the bass-straight-to-the-amp signal.
FWIW, I have never experienced a problem with tracking or the tuner's ability to do it's job from the end of the chain.
