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Tuners too sensitive?

davy4575

davy4575

Nov 4, 2009
973
588
Denver, CO
#1
I used to use a guitar ME-50, it had an onboard tuner. On most of bases, it was wildly erratic, not pitch wise, but it certainly took an act of congress to get it to hit and stay on the center mark for any given note.

I switched to a Korg DTR2 toneworks, I run it out of the tuner output of one my amps, no effects before it. Even just direct into the tuner...its even worse. It takes a month of sundays for it to grab the note and I can either get it fundamentally center with just a flicker sharp or flat, but never just solid right in the center. This applies to both drop tunings and standard E.

I have 5 basses, all are setup well and intonation is correct. I can grab the octave and it holds a little more still but not as still as Id like it.

Ive resolved to just taking an average. It pitches out against software tuners and a variety of little battery powered tuners, guitars, keyboards just fine.

Am I just expecting too much out of a tuner and/or are the tuners geared towards tuning guitars and too sensitive for basses?
 
#6
CorrosionMedia said:
I currently use a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 and it works quite well and does a pretty good job even on an open low B.
Click to expand...
I was just praising this guy in another thread. Just got it in the other day ordered online. So far I find it extremely easy to use accurate and visible, I don't expect a tuner to do much more. I've owned from korgs, boss and little snark trolls and this guy wins. Haven't experienced any pitch sensitivity where it has trouble registering like some other dig tuners
 
#7
Where do you pluck your strings to tune? Some guitar tuners do not pick up the bass frequencies well. I find most will work with basses if you tune with harmonics. Even then, some tuners just do not work with bass. You are not expecting too much out of a tuner, you are just using a crappy tuner. I use Polytune but the BOSS TU-3 is another good and cheap one.
 
#8
sounding like Ill need to get a tuner that is made for a bass or is better at picking up basses.
(no radio on etc, and pluck the strings inbetween pups without too much tension so as not to cause deflection of the strings)
 
#9
ddnidd1 said:
The problem you're experiencing is not that the tuner is too sensitive, it's that it doesn't track well.

Try a TurboTuner or a Peterson.

Plus the Korgs tend to be very inaccurate tuners compared to a number of other tuners.
Click to expand...

I'll concede that *some* Korgs are inaccurate (like the GT-3 I had way back in the day), and some are completely worthless (like the Pitchclip), but I use a Pitchblack+ and have never had a problem. My basses and my guitar never sound as much in tune as they do when tuned with the Pitchblack+.

Peterson = gold standard
I'll look at the TurboTuner if my pitchblack+ croaks.
 
#10
I generally use the tuners in the Zoom pedals but some times use a GoGo headstock tuner and don't have any issues. I do sometimes tune to the octave harmonic for speed. I find tuners so much more convenient than tuning by ear, I am old enough to remember gigs before there were affordable tuners available and i was the only person in the band that could actually get instruments in tune.
 
#12
Used a Korg Pitchblack for years, never had an issue with it - always sounded in tune, and it settled easily on the note. Not erratic at all.

For size reasons, switched to a Polytune Mini. Again, no problems at all, as yet.

What you're describing definitely isn't something bassists need to settle for. Fwiw, I use a four string so no low B or anything, and tend to use a pick, towards the bridge.
 
#14
The only problem I've ever had is tuning (1) notes at low C (i.e. E string detuned 2 steps) or lower (2) using low-tension strings (3) while using a pick. The Pitchblack did not handle those occasions well for me, but generally it handled even the lowest notes fine if I plucked with my fingers.

I picked up a Sonic Research Turbo Tuner to replace the Pitchblack and it tracks all notes perfectly, even down to low C in the situations mentioned above.
 

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