Tuner Reviews

Sick and tired of junky tuners, I decided it was time to upgrade.

I purchased 3 new units in 3 different price points and decided to review each one and talk about their features a little bit.  I am not going to get too in depth with things such as operation as there are other reviews which do this.  Instead I will try and talk about things that I felt made each of these tuners unique. 

I have had a lot of different experiences with tuners from the past.  I always liked my little hand held Korg tuner which was reliable and I also have a Boss analog needle tuner that I am fond of.  However, I feel the Korg isn't quite a professional level tuner and the Boss is fragile as are all analog needle gauges. 

Fortunately, things aren't the same as they were in years past.  With all of the competition in the guitar market, you almost have to try to buy a bad tuner.  So if they all do the job pretty good, what is the difference? 

First up, I bought a Snark SN-1.  The SN-1 is a clamp on headstock style chromatic tuner that have become rather popular over the past few years.  These things have always fascinated me so I finally decided to try one myself.  I happened to like how easily the tuner face was adjustable so I could see it from any direction.  I also liked the nice bright screen.  I figured for quick tuning, this would be my go to. 

I was unable to find any information which mentioned how accurate the tuner was.  I can say that from using it, I was definitely in tune.

The tuner also has some sort of silent metronome feature which seems gratuitous and silly to me.  However, that isn't nearly as silly to me as the transposing feature on it.  With it you can transpose UP but not down.  This reminds me of the "Key" "feature" on my horrible Seiko tuner (they should have stuck to making watches!).  It is illogical and stupid.  It is a chromatic tuner!  Why is this feature on there!? 

Retail cost was 29$ as the Snark site suggests.  The tuner comes with a battery but it is an oddball so if this were my only tuner, I might keep another one around.  All things considered, I think this is a great tuner which works equally well on acoustic and electric guitars (despite having no microphone - the SN-2 does however have a microphone) and doesn't require any sort of additional equipment like a cable or pickup to function.   It costs as much as any other entry level tuner and works at least as well without any hassle. 

Next up is the TC Electronics Polytune.  Polytuning?  What on earth is that!?  Wouldn't it be neat to be able to just strum all 6 strings on the guitar at once and tune them all quickly?  With the TC Electronics Polytune, you can!!  I was skeptical at first so I had to check one out. 

Apparently, this is not the only polyphonic tuner on the market.  I also looked at a Digitech HT-6 and have to admit that I was unimpressed with the size of and general aesthetic appearance of their pedal.  The Polytune comes in a nice MXR sized case and features true bypass (or so they claimed, I have learned it is often best not to take the rabbit out of the hat).  This is an electric guitar only tuner.  I haven't tried it with an acoustic guitar with a pickup, but have to imagine it would probably work equally as well.  It has no microphone.

From what I can tell, this thing is pretty high tech.  TC Electronics' website says there will be new software available for it soon allowing for drop D tunings.  New software!?  It is basically a small computer that is out to help you tune up!  There is a small USB port on the back of the tuner. 

The display is easy to understand and the tuner has a .5 cent accuracy.   This tuner does allow for dropped tunings and is a chromatic tuner if you are tuning each string individually. 

I am impressed.  It does what it claims to do and allows for quick tuning.  At 99$, this is competitively priced with any other pedal tuner on the market.  A skeptic has been converted!

I apologize for my thoughts on the TC Electronics Polytune being so disorganized.  It has literally taken me days to process all of this information myself.  It is like learning how to tune a guitar all over again. 

Last up is the Peterson StroboFlip virtual strobe tuner.  Having never used a strobe tuner before, there was a lot to get used to.  The manual is an actual book!  I am glad it was however, it answered all of my questions as I read it from cover to cover. 

This tuner is accurate to .1 cent.  This is a blessing and a curse.  Fine tuning can take quite a bit of time to accomplish.  So this isn't exactly a fast tuner.  I bought mine more for setting intonation.  However, I learned it had some really unique features such as adjustable temperments and sweetened tunings to accomodate for standard temperments. 

It works equally well with electric and acoustic instruments as it has a clip on pickup for acoustic instruments.  Assuming you have read the manual, the display is easy to understand. 

I also liked that it came with an AC adapter. 

At 200$, you will be pressed to find a more accurate tuner on the market.