Robben Ford Discussion

[telefunk1]

Gear question....

I am thinking of dumping my ancient worn out tuner for a new one to incorporate into a pedal board. Any suggestions? What works well, what to avoid?

[iamthewalrus]

I own and can recommend the following:

KORG DT-7
Peterson "StroboStomp"

Cheers,
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iamthewalrus
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Knock knock.
Who's there?
Control freak. Now you say "control freak who."

[Daved]

I am, and always have been, a seriously "strobe" tuner oriented kinda guy.

You can't beat the accuracy of a strobe tuner. Not only are they the best for calibrating and spot-on accuracy, but when you get comfortably familiar with the information on it's display, you can tell far more than just if the instrument is in tune. You'll find you can often tell when a string is "not vibrating right", producing distinctive variations in the expected screen patterns. With experience you'll eventually be able to 'read' these variations to find "bad" or "dead" strings and predict (and avoid) string breakages.

I have often made the analogy that proper knowledge and use of a strobe tuner's display is, to an instrument tech, the same as an Xray is to a doctor.

However, strobe tuners were always a heavily analog device... very large and bulky. I bitched for many years about there being no 'portable' models available that you could just toss in your gigbag and easily take with you. But, with all the necessary components, lights, and motors required, this was pretty much an impossibility.

Now, however, in the last 3 or 4 years technology has advanced to the point where Peterson Tuners has finally been able to develope their Virtual Strobe! The biggest drawback to strobe tuners were that their display screens were inheritantly very difficult to see in the light of day. Now with the use of chips & LCD screens, Peterson has succesfully reduced the size & weight and also provides a display clearly visible in daylight and backlit in the dark.

The Peterson VS-2 is a great, dependable, durable, accurate, and programable tuner with a backlit display. Small and light (about the size of a paperback book) it can run on either batteries or with the included 'international' power supply. It also comes with a baby blue rubber stand that protectively encloses it.

It sells for a mere $200 @ almost all music supply stores. A bargain for what you get, especially considering the last analog Peterson I bought, in Y2K, cost me over US$1000 (and that was a special "artists" deal I got thru the Peterson reps!)

And, even better yet, last year Peterson came out with the very first EVER strobe tuner footpedal, the StrobeOstomp! Also available for about US$200 and slightly bigger than your typical Boss pedal, the StrobeOstomp also doubles as a DI for basses & acoustic guitars!!!

Check out the Peterson website for more in depth info, if you're interested.

Relatively cheap "needle" needle tuners like the Boss's or the Korg's, and such, are fine for conveniently handy & portable backups, or if all you need and want is a quick, simple, basic tune. But, if you're serious about your tuning and calibrating, then a strobe tuner is pretty much a "must have".

My one wish, I guess, would be... it would be nice if they could somehow recreate that old familiar, glowing red, display screen that we dyed-in-the-wool, longtime Peterson users have grown to know, love, and become comfortable with.
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B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

[BlueRunner]

Daved: Thanks for the great info! A tuner went onto my Christmas list a while ago. We'll see. Up until now it's been the piano and my ears. And my ears are 55 years old. My guitars aren't mechanically difficult to tune, it's just that I seem to have more trouble figuring out whether or not I'm "there." Funny. When I was in a band in high school it seemed that tuning went a lot quicker. Could it be that back then I didn't really give a poop about intonation?
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- BlueRunner

[Leftbender]

As I don't have a guitar-tech I use the Boss TU-2 pedal-tuner. It's at the end of my pedal loop and has two outputs, one is bypass and the other one cuts the sound. I use this last output to change guitars during a gig.
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"Don't play what's there, play what's not there" Miles Davis

[Aeolian]

The most popular around here are the Boss TU2 stomp box (one on my pedal board) and Boss TU12 needle tuner which I use at home for more accurate tuning for repair and recording (doesn't help the bad notes though )

Never thought of the overtone/bad string thing that Daved mentioned. I'll have to look into one of those strobes and have a chat with Santa.
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There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

[juspasinby2003]

I've been using the Peterson Strobo Stomp since it was released, and, having been spoiled by it, I wouldn't, couldn't use anything else. Peterson hit a big home run with this pedal as it is a major breakthrough in tuning convenience, portability and accuracy.

The Strobo Stomp is accurate to 1/10 of a cent (1/1000 of a semitone). That's about 30 times more accurate than LED or needle tuners. No other tuner even comes close to this kind of accuracy. For example, the Boss TU-2 is only accurate to plus or minus 3 cents - meaning any two strings can be as much as 6 cents out of tune relative to each other and still show as "in tune" on the Tu-2's meter. Plus the Strobo Stomp is built extremely well (as is the TU-2) and features 100% true bypass switching with muting for silent tuning and an active DI.

If being in tune and proper intonation are at all important to you, the Peterson Strobo Stomp is the only choice for a stage tuner.

[Aeolian]

The next trick is getting those fourty year old Klusons to let me find that 1/10 of a cent.
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There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

[marinblues]

Considering that perfect intonation on a guitar is impossible and when even a simple pressure difference on a string can offset the pitch of a tone, I wonder whether tuners of such a high level of precision really make sense for a guitar? (except for maybe Buzz Feiten).
(bytheway, I always though Buzz was an unlucky name for a guitar product, especially to a string related one).

I mean it's like have 96db S/N Bose Hi-Fi Dolby Surround system installed in a tractor!


only kidding.......


Marin

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[marinblues]

....ooooops, I forgot: another vote for the Boss TU-2. Well lit, robust, stage pedal. Built like a tank....or tractor!



Marin

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Juggalo

[StratCat]

Very timely discussion - I've just bought a Peterson VSII to replace my aging but trusty TU12 (which requires constant "rebooting" to make it work... it's 15 years old). I have one guitar with the Feiten system on it so was also keen to get something that would tune this properly (I'm not happy with the Korg DT7 that I bought... grrr.)

Went with the VSII rather than the strobo stomp as I'm trying to cut down on the amount of stuff at my feet. I must also admit it's an exercise in self-indulgence .

Will let you know how this goes anyway... probably won't arrive here for a few weeks. Will cost me about US$240 inc freight; a bit pricey but then the local price for a TU12 is the equivalent of US$150.

For what it's worth, there's also a new Boss TU15 (I think) which is basically a TU12 with some enhancements for guitar including inc improved buffer for those that feed their signal through the tuner (not quite true bypass but is supposed to be much better tone wise).

You could also try the Korg rack tuners which look pretty cool.



Chris
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because I rock, and that's important.

[JohnnyZ]

Damn! And, here I thought shelling out eighty bucks for a korg dt-7(?), tuner for the buzz feiten tuning feature, was just too much for an item that I'd use very little compared to other electronics. I suppose looking at it as a cost per minute or usage isn't so relative...
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Soul on Eleven

[juspasinby2003]

[edpesco]

Boss TU 2, simple reliable cheap and comfortable. But I don't know Petersons, they may be faster and work more exactly as I heard.

[Leftbender]