Tuners: Plug in, Clip on or app?

Flink_Poyd

I had a crack at setting my intonation today using a clip on tuner, checked with the tuner in my amp and the one in Pod Farm, hey presto all different readings. Im looking to spend up to £30 so anything like a Polytune pedal is out so Im looking at plug in (lead), clip on or smartphone app type.
So whats the general consensus? Are there any decent clip ons/apps or is plug in type the way to go?

Hyster

Id be interested to know the answer to this too.

I saw one of these and wondered if they would be good.

UnclePsychosis

If it's for setups and you need super accurate then polytune are bringing out a clip on which claims to have ludicrous accuracy and costs £35. There's a thread in the FX section.

Personally, I like pedal tuners for rehearsing and playing live and clip on ones for at home. £30 gets you a very decent pedal tuner.

ICBM

Flink_Poyd said:

I had a crack at setting my intonation today using a clip on tuner, checked with the tuner in my amp and the one in Pod Farm, hey presto all different readings.

Which one sounds right?

It's quite possible they're all calibrated slightly differently.

For what it's worth I like the Boss pedal tuners for live, but I wouldn't use one for setting intonation because these are two different purposes. For a stage tuner you want speed and stability, not absolute accuracy. For intonation, the opposite.

I'm currently using the Polytune app for intonation, although I always check by ear (using the adjacent string as a reference) as well. If it sounds right, it's right.

strtdv

I use an app. In my experience it's much more accurate than a clip on one. For ultimate accuracy there's no beating a strobe tuner but they're expensive and fiddly

Flink_Poyd

UnclePsychosis;677709" said:

If it's for setups and you need super accurate then polytune are bringing out a clip on which claims to have ludicrous accuracy and costs £35. There's a thread in the FX section.

Personally, I like pedal tuners for rehearsing and playing live and clip on ones for at home. £30 gets you a very decent pedal tuner.

@Hyster linked to the Polytune, looks interesting.

Chalky

I spent £50 on a Boss TU3 only to have it go a bit strange after 6 months - the tuning wanders and if I mute all strings with my palm it shows slightly sharp G. So I took it back to PMT who sent it to Roland who sent it back 3 weeks later saying "the battery's dead". Since the day I bought it, it has lived on carpet plugged into a Boss power supply so battery state is irrelevant. The plonker in PMT said "mine is the same and they're all like that". Really? Then to convince me that he is the unquestionable world expert, he said "and I gig with mine!" Aah, I thought, you just lost a customer....

Are all TU3s like this? So I ordered a Polytune....

Flink_Poyd

ICBM;677730" said:

I'm currently using the Polytune app for intonation, although I always check by ear (using the adjacent string as a reference) as well. If it sounds right, it's right.

Looks like that's iPhone only, there was one I used before, HT6 Fastune but again not sure of how accurate it is by using the microphone

Phil_aka_Pip

Apart from ears & tuning fork, I think one of the most accurate is the Yamaha T250. It's not a clip-on, you plug into it. It could be pedalboard-resident if you had a switcher pedal on the board, as there is no output (it doesn't have a switch that turns it on and mutes, or switches it off and bypasses. Those things make it slightly less convenient for an electric guitarist, but to me, tuning accuracy is the prime requirement so I forgive it for its slight inconveniences.

ICBM

Chalky said:

I spent £50 on a Boss TU3 only to have it go a bit strange after 6 months - the tuning wanders and if I mute all strings with my palm it shows slightly sharp G.

I would guess the input jack has come loose. A slightly sharp G is the frequency of mains hum, which is caused by the grounding via the jack to the casing not being tight.

I've been finding this on quite a few Boss pedals recently, they don't seem to be tightening them up quite as much at the factory.

bingefeller

Is the Polytune 2 floor tuner OK for intonation?  

WezV

strtdv said:

I use an app. In my experience it's much more accurate than a clip on one. For ultimate accuracy there's no beating a strobe tuner but they're expensive and fiddly

You can get the peterson IStrobosoft for apple and android

it claims to have the same accuracy as the real tuners.  It costs about £8.  I remember them releasing the first version about 2 months after I spent £180 on a stroboflip

there is a bit of a learning curve if you have not used one before, but it quickly makes sense

WezV

bingefeller

WezV said:

strtdv said:

I use an app. In my experience it's much more accurate than a clip on one. For ultimate accuracy there's no beating a strobe tuner but they're expensive and fiddly

You can get the peterson IStrobosoft for apple and android

it claims to have the same accuracy as the real tuners.  It costs about £8.  I remember them releasing the first version about 2 months after I spent £180 on a stroboflip

there is a bit of a learning curve if you have not used one before, but it quickly makes sense

Have you compared the two? I,sort of think if,I had a more accurate tuner for setting intonation I would drive myself nuts trying to get it just right.

axisus

I really like a clip on for quick tweaks before playing, I use my axefx for something more substantial.

WezV

I have not used the software version since i had the proper one. Yes, they can drive you nuts and i wouldn't recommend gigging with one if you have any trace of ocd

DrBob

Funnily enough I come to this thread having just tried to tune my Strat using the Polytune App on my IPhone which was previously great but tonight for some reason it thinks my guitar is tuned a whole tone up from what it actually is. So although it is tuned to E the app is saying F#, for the A string it says B etc etc. and yes I've checked it's not set to a drop tuning and that it is set to 440hz... Wtf ?

Branshen

Chalky;677743" said:

I spent £50 on a Boss TU3 only to have it go a bit strange after 6 months - the tuning wanders and if I mute all strings with my palm it shows slightly sharp G. So I took it back to PMT who sent it to Roland who sent it back 3 weeks later saying "the battery's dead". Since the day I bought it, it has lived on carpet plugged into a Boss power supply so battery state is irrelevant. The plonker in PMT said "mine is the same and they're all like that". Really? Then to convince me that he is the unquestionable world expert, he said "and I gig with mine!" Aah, I thought, you just lost a customer....

Are all TU3s like this? So I ordered a Polytune....

My tu2 gives a slightly sharp g when the cable is unplugged. Icbm is right I think.

ICBM

DrBob said:

Funnily enough I come to this thread having just tried to tune my Strat using the Polytune App on my IPhone which was previously great but tonight for some reason it thinks my guitar is tuned a whole tone up from what it actually is. So although it is tuned to E the app is saying F#, for the A string it says B etc etc. and yes I've checked it's not set to a drop tuning and that it is set to 440hz...

Wtf ?

I don't know, but mine was doing that the other day too! On a Strat as well.

It settled down after a while but it was a bit odd at first.

Neil

Things have come on a bit since my old pitch pipes!

Sambostar

WezV said:

I'd like one of them to practice keeping my E-4 Dino roars in tune.  Can you get the app for a laptop?  I'd like to use it for singing.

as regards tuning, I usually sing an E and tune from there

Just downloaded Pitch Perfect.  I can hit an A1.  And what I thought was an E2 or bottom E string, rather than an E anything else, is in fact an E2.   Sweet!