cheap tuner pedals

[sbrag]

Are they worth buying or is it a false economy? I'm looking at the behringer guitarman stag or joyo tuners at a fraction of the cost of a boss korg or tc and wondering if anyone has any experience with them or is it better to spend the extra cash on one of the name brands possibly a korg pitch black. Don't need anything fancy just clear accurate and reliable. Cheers

Edited September 18, 2013 by sbrag

[charic]

With a standard 4 string bass you might get away with a cheapy but IME once you add detuning or a low B into the equation you're going to want the better tuners

[Beer of the Bass]

I've got one of the Harley Benton (Thomann) tuners, the one that looks like a Boss TU2 copy. I've seen them branded Beta Aivin too. It reads the B string without any trouble and seems fine to use. The only issue I've had is that it doesn't like to have the power supply daisy chained with a high gain fuzz, as it causes noise in the fuzz. That may be specific to my particular pedals though.

[uncle psychosis]

You can pick up a second hand Pitchblack for about £35, so its not like the "good" ones are all that expensive anyway. If you're on a tight budget I quite often just take my Snark clip-on tuner to gigs and rehearsals, that works absolutely brilliantly and is considerably cheaper than any pedal tuner (I think mine cost me a tenner).

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1379585089' post='2214385']
You can pick up a second hand Pitchblack for about £35, so its not like the "good" ones are all that expensive anyway. If you're on a tight budget I quite often just take my Snark clip-on tuner to gigs and rehearsals, that works absolutely brilliantly and is considerably cheaper than any pedal tuner (I think mine cost me a tenner).
[/quote]
Just for an alternate view on the Snark, mine works well for only a couple of weeks until the battery gets low, and it leaves blue marks on my headstock. I don't like it very much!

[sbrag]

Cheers guys. I've used my brother (who's a guitarist) clip on one and dont like it and found it a bit flakey with bass.

I'm thinking of a second hand Korg but noticed Gear4Music are selling the Behringers for £19 on line which prompted the origonal post.

[gjones]

The clip on tuners accuracy depends on where you clip it on the headstock. I used to clip mine on the end of my headstock and after the battery drained a bit it would have difficulty reading the string vibrations. I experimented and found that the best place to clip it, is on the F of my fender logo on my Jazz and Precision. It picks up the vibrations of the strings much better there and the battery lasts for ages.

[ambient]

I just bought an Intellitouch clip on tuner from Amazon

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intellitouch-PT10-Mini-Tuner/dp/B002KDHBRU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381707079&sr=8-1&keywords=intellitouch+pt-10"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intellitouch-PT10-Mini-Tuner/dp/B002KDHBRU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381707079&sr=8-1&keywords=intellitouch+pt-10[/url]

I'm very impressed with it. Tracks easily and accurately from the low B to the high C on my 6's.

[discreet]

I have a rack tuner now, but I can vouch for the Planet Waves Mini Headstock Tuner. Used one for ages.
It takes a little patience to find the right position for it, but after that you can just leave it clipped to your headstock.

[url="http://www.planetwaves.com/PWVideo.Page?ActiveID=3985&MediaId=9960&MediaName=Planet_Waves_NS_Mini_Headstock_Tuner_Commercial"]http://www.planetwav...uner_Commercial[/url]

Problems with tracking low E or B strings can solved by playing an octave harmonic at the twelfth fret and tuning from that.
Though frankly I never had this issue with the low E on my 4-string.

Edited October 13, 2013 by discreet

[Iheartreverb]

I think each cheap one will have its own issues. I bought an 'On Stage' branded tuner after the guy showing me in the shop that they are built like a tank.
I also have a Boss tu2 which I moved onto a bass board and needed to buy this new one for guitar.
If I use two together there is significant difference in the performance (speed of tracking note) and if you didn't find this you would have build issues with something like Behringer.

Do yourself a favour and get a used pitchblack or keep one eye on gumtree for a tu2/3

[synaesthesia]

Most digital tuners want a separate isolated power supply if you have a fuzz or some such and you are sharing the power supply; if you share the supply this will amplify whirring digital noises regardless of whether it is an expensive or cheap tuner. You can eliminate that by using a battery or another power supply.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1379581016' post='2214326']
I've got one of the Harley Benton (Thomann) tuners, the one that looks like a Boss TU2 copy. I've seen them branded Beta Aivin too. It reads the B string without any trouble and seems fine to use. The only issue I've had is that it doesn't like to have the power supply daisy chained with a high gain fuzz, as it causes noise in the fuzz. That may be specific to my particular pedals though.
[/quote]

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='synaesthesia' timestamp='1383548174' post='2265606']
Most digital tuners want a separate isolated power supply if you have a fuzz or some such and you are sharing the power supply; if you share the supply this will amplify whirring digital noises regardless of whether it is an expensive or cheap tuner. You can eliminate that by using a battery or another power supply.
[/quote]

Yes, I solved that one with an isolated power supply, but I thought it might be worth mentioning for anyone daisy chaining. Interesting to know that some of the more expensive tuners do it too.

[Thunderbird]

I have used cheap tuner pedals and they are OK at best really the only one I had that was any good was a Joyo JT-55 but I bought a used Boss TU-2 from here a while ago and now I think it is the most valuble pedal I now own I did not used to like Boss tuners but now I am a real convert and I think it tracks quickly and is mega accurate I think it is better to buy a decent used pedal like the Boss or another great Tuner is the Korg pitch black both can be picked up for about £40 used on here

[Ricksflynn]

I own the Behringer tuner and don't have any issues with it. Tunes my 4, 5 and 6 string fine. I would like to upgrade to a Boss but at the moment I'm in no real rush.