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Where's all the rack mount tuners?

Back in the day, mid eighties, I thought the rack tuner with the little red dot zipping back and forth was the the bee's knees. I had serious gizmo lust, but more pressing needs. I got a tuning fork, held it between my teeth: stereo tuning tone! $3.

Twenty years later, I got on Talk Bass, found out they were cheap and got a Korg DTR-1. Just like back in the day! I like the twirly mode. I like the zippy red dot. I use it every night, cause its in my rack case.

I can see it from 10 feet away. I can check notes on the fly.

I like the twirly mode! But you already knew that.
 
I've got a DTR-1000 in my rack.

For my needs it's a much better setup than its pedal equivalent.

I have a rackmount head, so I've got room to include it there instead of sucking up pedalboard space and pedalboard power, plus if I wanted to play a gig without effects, it'd still be with me without me having to drag the entire pedalboard along.

Shame they're getting dropped by the manufacturers.
 
you gotta admit, for guitar players, a muting tuner on the pedalboard that's already in front of you makes a lot more sense; no turning around, sound-muting stomp switch, etc. i guess with the fading of the '80s/'90s rack guitar gear craze, the market just fell out for rack tuners.

the thing is, for bass players they often make way more sense; lots of players use rackmount preamp/power amp combos and no floor effects, so the rack ends up being the logical place for the tuner.

i guess there just aren't as many bass players, so the market just isn't there.
 
i guess there just aren't as many bass players, so the market just isn't there.

No I think it is a lot of bass amps these day are not made for for rackmounting even if most still can be... Heads look cooler..

But lets face it guitarists still rule the gear gizmo market.

Also for me I don't like to have my tuner mute because sometimes the room sounds odd and I want to know if my tuning shifted or not during the song, if it says I'm in tune then cool if I'm out I can fix it while playing and so again it is cool.
 
I currently own a Korg Pitchblack pedal tuner as well as a behringer rack tuner. The Pitchblack gets used if I'm not using my rig and going direct.

The Behringer is honestly pretty trashy for a bass player. It works okay but on the Low E forget about it picking it up. I've tried all the different modes that you can do with it and it has the hardest time finding it.

So now I'm waiting on a Korg DTR-1000 to arrive to fix that. The best thing about have a rack tuner is that it is just 1 cord to run to your rig. If I was running more effects than it would be fine but to run 2 cords just for a tuner wouldn't make sense for me.
 
I totally understand your reasoning, but a pedaltuner and a cable is cheaper than a racktuner. To look at it a different way.

True. Depends on which cables you get. A pedal tuner runs $90-100. a nice 21' monster cable runs you $50.

Or I can just buy a used racktuner for $100 and be done and not have to worry about a power supply or batteries for the tuner either. Just plug in and done. If I had just one more pedal I probably would just go with a pedal tuner.

Everyone's rig is different. Rackmounts are just more convenient for me.
 
I have 2 old school Korg DT-1s. Once you go rack you don't go back!
 

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forget the Behringer racktuner for bass!!

it is slow and cannot cope with the deep tones.

I used it for a year and then just bought a Korg Pitchblack. No turning around, muting the amp to tune, and since it is in the beginning of my signal-chain, I'm also using it as a killswitch. And come on, the Pitchblack isnt that big!
 
Another benefit of the rack tuner is other users can quickly plug into the front of it using the extra inputs. Had one of my guitarists plugging into my Korg 2000 for quite a while, he loved the huge display. I think it has a mic input for tuning acoustics too, though I've never used it. I actually DISLIKE the little dot running all over during my set, I always assumed it was a little visually distracting to some of the audience.

Currently I use the tuner in my BOSS SE-70. Works great. It always gets me really close to dead on tuning when A-B'ing it against the Peterson Strobe in my iPhone.
 
I have a Korg DTR-1000 and like it a lot with one considerable exception. The problem is that the "swirly" strobe mode swirls by rapidly when no signal is going to the tuner, instead of just stopping. In the other needle style mode, when there is no input signal the red dot just quietly stays motionless to one side. I like to use an AB switch pedal to mute and tune, and then switch back to my amp input with the tuner muted, and I like the strobe mode, but I can't use it because the constantly zipping strobe is distracting and looks dumb. So I just use the needle mode, which is adequate and gets the job done, but not as accurate nor any easier/quicker to use than the strobe mode.

There is a mute function on the unit that can be pedal controlled, but this demands that the input passes through the tuner......and the tuner is not a true bypass. So this function is worthless for my preference. Overall, it is a quick accurate tuner and it tracks low notes just fine.