Why are tuner pedals so expensive?

[Two-Spirit]

You can get headstock tuners free with pedal sometimes on eBay or amazon.

 

[Nev375]

I seem to have struck some nerves. I think I'll be exiting the thread now.

Phone sounds like a pain in the ass.

Wow. That's so interesting. From my perspective the tuner pedal seems like a bigger pain. I guess we all have different perspectives.

 

[Hi-End Basses]

I use both; I tune wirh a Snark clip-on when I restring, and I use my Boss TU-3 when I'm plugged in. The Boss was pricey, but one and done.

 

[Joe Nerve]

If not already said...

Get on musiciansfriend's stupid deal of the day email list. They have tuner blowouts all the time. I paid about $25 for an awesome Korg ptichblack (or something like that), and have bought other tuners just because they're were too cheap to pass up.

 

[Big Hoss]

Leaving a clip-on tuner on your headstock looks tacky. Unless you're in a Country Western band.

Nope, you still look tacky.

 

[Stevorebob]

Like honestly, $75 for a tuner? I've got a free app on my phone that works 90% of the time. I get it works as a killswitch and all, but why $75?

‘Cause one looks pretty silly putting a stop to the action and asking the crowd in the club to quiet down soz they can yank their phone from their hip pocket and toone up.

 

[jthisdell]

I bought a Korg tuner in 1981 for about $85. That is about $240 in current USD. And that was not a pedal, rather it was a plastic unit that you had to turn the dial to the string you wanted to tune (EADGBE only). Although it had in and out plugs I usually unplugged, plugged into the tuner, tuned and then plugged back in. Expensive for the day and not as convenient as todays but fabulous technology for the day which greatly improved my playing. And it still works although it takes a few seconds to recognize the note now.

Playing in tune every time, not live tuning at volume on stage so all can hear? Priceless.

 

[GBBSbassist]

YMMV, but I notice the lack of response in the cheaper tuners, especially the cheaper pedal ones.

 

[Marikk]

Not sure if its been mentioned yet but Turbo tuners also allow you to play much faster, Like racing stripes on a car..Thats just science!

 

[sillyfabe]

Because if you're not in tune then it's worthless!

 

[Lionel Albert]

YMMV, but I notice the lack of response in the cheaper tuners, especially the cheaper pedal ones.

One day in a gig a bass player became very angry then he began to shout after a kid, the kid was laughing and laughing like an idiot, the bassist became furious and began to beat him.
Then the guitarist ask him :
- Why are you beating this poor boy ?
- Because he detuned a string !
- So tune it up !
- OK but he doesn't want to tell me which machine head he touched !!!

 

[Felken]

Am I the only one who has a bass that stays perfectly in tune after hours of intense playing and HARD plucking??

Edit: Which means I don't have to tune it mid-set. Which means I don't need a tuner pedal.

 

[Lionel Albert]

Am I the only one who has a bass that stays perfectly in tune after hours of intense playing and HARD plucking??

No !!!

 

[theunknowndude]

Am I the only one who has a bass that stays perfectly in tune after hours of intense playing and HARD plucking??

Yep my basses unless going from extreme weather changes rarely seem to move. Still tune them properly every time before playing though with Ye olde trusty korg pitchblack

 

[Westsailor]

I've used all kinds of tuners, nothing REAL fancy though. From the little Korg with the needle (delicate), to a clip-on Snark (good but hard to see in daylight) to phone tuners (absolutely useless with any ambient noise) to finally I bought a Korg Pitchblack, the most expensive tuner I've ever owned. I'll never go back.

 

[Big Hoss]

Am I the only one who has a bass that stays perfectly in tune after hours of intense playing and HARD plucking??

Nope.

 

[StatesideRambler]

You can get headstock tuners free with pedal sometimes on eBay or amazon.

And you can bet those free tuners are the best there are. Given a choice between free crap and costly quality I'm a fan of quality. It's the quality, not the cost that matters to me.

 

[Korladis]

Like honestly, $75 for a tuner? I've got a free app on my phone that works 90% of the time. I get it works as a killswitch and all, but why $75?

That isn't expensive.

 

[veryvery]

My way of tuning can beat up your way of tuning!

 

[Danilixo]

Never expected this much of a response lol.
I do agree that you can't stop playing in the middle of a gig to just tune, and that my phone does in fact cost ten times the amount a tuner costs, but to be fair my phone can do a bit more than a tuner pedal can.
I'm still not particularly motivated to buy a tuner pedal, and my bass can generally hold its tuning for long enough for me to sound good through a long enough gig. I've gone sometimes through 8 hours of playing (slap and all) and still not have any tuning issues that would require me to tune on stage.
In general I think the reason they're so expensive is simply because the demand for them are high enough and people can easily capitalize on them, just like all musician equipment. We're really getting the short end of the stick from all these big businesses. But at the same time, I don't particularly think I'm gonna ever be able to build myself one, so some day I'll end up buying one (probably on sale).
I agree, keeping in tune is probably the best thing you can do to stay sounding good, so in theory a tuning pedal should be your best friend.

PS: To everyone saying $75 isn't expensive, I commend you getting to a point in your life where you can afford something $75 and calling it inexpensive, I hope to get you where you are one day. I agree that you pay for what you get, and I want good quality, but at the moment I'm a crap ton of college debt and getting just above minimum wage lol.