Tuner pedal recommendations

I personally use a clip-on, but mix a bunch of bands. What I am seeing on pedalboards is 90% even mixture between the Polytune & Boss pedals. The other 10% is a mix of Beringer & cheap imports. My personal experience with both stomp box & rack gear is that both TC & Boss products are generally good products to buy, and easy to sell if you go another direction.

 

Last month I bought the Peterson Strobostomp HD, which I'm quite happy with. I only play in standard tuning, but this unit can do a lot of different tunings. See https://www.petersontuners.com/products/stroboStompHD/

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...polyphonic-led-guitar-tuner-pedal-with-buffer
This is the best one I've found. I was having problems with my tone sounding dull with signal going thru about 6 "true bypass" pedals.
I replaced my Korg Pitchblack tuner with this.....it was immediately like a blanket was lifted off my amp.
The buffer fixed the problem and this tuner (visually) is the easiest one I've ever used to see, and it's very steady, not jumping around.

 

Ive tried the peterson strobe tuners but they are almost too accurate, which for me made them difficult to use. I imagine one would be very useful to a person who did setups all day. (For intonating)
I know you said you wanted something more compact than a boss, but for me, the tu-3 has been perfect.
Ive read that alot of people really like the polytune.

 

I like the Polytune a lot better than my Boss pedals...but have been using the Boss pedals for decades.

 

I use the Polytune2 now. I wish it had alternate tunings as well. Perhaps the new one does, I don't know. The Peterson Strobe is known to be the most accurate, but I found it too different from my old Boss to get used to.

 

I have (just got it) a Boss, based solely upon this forum and YouTube recommendations. Happy with it so far.

 

Be careful with boss because they are buffered.

I switched to the black mini polytune. It's great!

It can be adjusted for tuning down.

 

I used a Boss for years but got tired of it "searching". Bought a Korg probably 8-10 years ago and it's better, but fairly big for pedals now days. maybe 5 x 5 or a little less. I thought about Polytune in a small format but read a lot of iffy reviews o n them.

 

I used the new Peterson to intonate my bass and it did make a tedious task less anxious, because I didn't have to guess where the note was, which can be an issue even on the low E of a 6-string.

In practice, I have not found regular tuning more difficult with the strobe. Yes, it will reveal the limitations of your other gear. On the other hand, it tracks faster than any tuner I've used, which means you can home in on the target faster.

I've also had good experiences with the PolyTune clip-on. If the new Peterson hadn't come out when it did, I probably would have bought a PolyTune mini pedal. A plus for both these tuners, Strobostomp HD and PolyTune, is easy-to-read displays.

My teacher has a TU-2 in the student rig, and I've never uttered a single complaint using it either.

 

I used a boss tu for years. All good. But now I went to a shure wireless setup which has the receiver in a pedal form which is also a tuner. It's the best thing ever.

 

The Boss tuner is buffered-true, and one of the reasons I chose it. It really depends on what a person is after. Note also that the Polytune 2 Mini has a true bypass, while the Polytune 3 Mini has a buffer that is switchable to true bypass. Lots of options out there!

 

I suppose if you need to add a buffer to your chain, you could kill two birds with one stone.

Imo, you probably don't. And if you did, you'd want a better sounding one. (Perhaps then go Waza?) Ymmv

 

Two birds, yes...and at this stage of my electrification I wouldn't know better sounding if it hit me in the head. As it is, just trying to purchase good equipment to last through these discovery stages with an eye towards likely performance scenarios. Cheers!

 

I've used a TC PolyTune 2 Mini for years. It's been great. I just got a Peterson Strobostomp and it's also pretty neat. I *heard* cough cough* that there's TC EL PolyTune 2 Mini for sale in the classifieds. OR if you'd prefer the Peterson Strobostomp, I can sell you mine, which is brand new, for 15% less than new, or $110 shipped paid via venmo or paypal friends and family. I just can't decide if I prefer the TC EL PT or the PS. 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other. The Peterson might be too full-featured for me.

 

If you want fast, it's Polytune hands down. Nails the pitch immediately. Easy to see in any lighting situation. In strobe mode it's very accurate for setting intonation. Switchable between buffered and true bypass.

 

I'm happy with the high value Donner DT Deluxe:

 

I have the Joyo copy of the pitch black. Works great. Accurate and super easy to read compared with the tu3. I imagine the real one is just as good if not better, though probably double the price

 

Pitchblack or Peterson, choose wisely!

Slightly used will do ya, and any gear that hasn’t gigged is slightly used!