Pedal Tuners, watcha using?

[CoreyT]

When I got back into guitars I saw pics online of pedal boards with a cool looking thing with a round strobe on it, and it turned out to be the Peterson Stomp Tuner.
When I took my 2012 Gibson '61 SG Reissue back to Guitar Center to find out why it was going out of tune so often (strings were not stretched when sales guy had changed them before I picked it up) my original sales guy explained to me the strings needed to be stretched.
That is also when he told me my SG was kind of rare as it had a one piece rosewood fretboard and was made in March of this year.
That is around the same time Gibson switched over to the two piece boards from the rosewood fiasco.

Anyways, he talked me into spending around $200 on the Peterson Stomp Tuner.
It is nice, and does all of the alternate tunings (I only play in standard though) and it also has what is called Sweet Tuning which I do not exactly know if that is a tad better than standard or not.
Anyways, that is how I have tuned all of my guitars with it.

Last week when I picked up my youngest sons PRS SE Semi-Hollow, I also got the new Digitech Polytune for him.
After using it and getting use to it, I think I prefer it over the Peterson.
You can do one note at a time, and also strum all strings at once.
Both methods work great, but I actually prefer the poly one where you can strum all strings at once.

It too has settings for capo, drop tunings, and the way it displays when playing one note at a time.
I find it much easier on the eyes than that spinning strobe setup that Peterson uses.

Anyone using the Polytune one, and if so, how do you like it.
And if you have also used the Peterson one, which do you like between the two?
I may end up getting myself a Polytune and taking the Peterson off of my board.
The TC one is also a lot smaller foot print.

Peterson Stomp Classic

TC Electronics Polytune

Strum mode:

One note at a time mode:

 

[RickO]

Been using the TC Polytune lately, (pretty easy to see the display in most circumstances). I also use a Peterson Strobostomp, (a little more accurate, but harder to see at times), and a Boss TU-2. I find them all to be good pedal tuners.

 

[Mike Duncan]

I love my TU-2. Have all the apps on my phone for Emergency uses.

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

I have the Korg Pitchblack.

More than good enough for setups. Accurate & easy to read. Different modes including strobe, mirrored, etc...

To the right of the Laney pedal.

 

[Em7]

I purchased a PEWaves tuner on a whim. It turned out to be a very good investment. The JPT-10 is a true-bypass pedal.

 

[wilerty]

Polytune

 

[cwhenke]

Polytune for me...love it.

 

[CE-man]

I've got a Digitech HT-6 polyphonic tuner. Can't find much to be disappointed about, it's accurate, good visibility, I'm happy with it.

 

[iahawk36]

Polytune for me....been using it just over a year, and nothing else has come close to it yet.

 

[Rango]

Boss TU-2 and now the TU-3 are the GOLD STANDARD in stomp box tuners.
I have TWO TU-3's one on my guitar pedal board and one on the Bass rig... ;-)

 

[Jet Whitey]

They all work great EXCEPT, try to see one in bright daylight !!! Then they ALL suck!!! I'm more than happy with the built-in tuner in my Axe-Fx and the MFC-101 board. First time I've been able to tune while playing outside in the bright sun!!

 

[Rango]

They all work great EXCEPT, try to see one in bright daylight !!! Then they ALL suck!!! I'm more than happy with the built-in tuner in my Axe-Fx and the MFC-101 board. First time I've been able to tune while playing outside in the bright sun!!

You used a TU-3 and you couldn't see it? Really?

I played a gig on an outdoor patio so bright I was in sunglasses and could see it fine.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Sonic Research - Turbo Tuner ST-200

 

[Soul&Tone]

1+

Sonic Reseach =turbo tuner st 200 replaced my TU-2.

 

[aduayer]

Polytune and mini Polytune here

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Boss GT-6, $100 used and it does a couple of other things too.

 

[Hopeful Sinner]

TC Polytune Inexpensive, several modes, muy preciso, nuff said...

 

[Richard Lainegard]

Poly mini, or pitch black

 

[Dancing Frog]

I have a Peterson Strobo Stomp on my board, but these days I am using the Polytune.

 

[László]

Somehow I've acquired several tuners over the years, and they're all pretty good.

I use a Peterson or Sonic Research for recording. I'm kind of a stickler about everything being in tune, and because these are more accurate, I find the tracks with instruments tuned with them blend a little better in a mix. You can honestly hear a difference when you're mixing.

But the others are great for a live show, etc. I've used a couple of the Boss tuners and the Korg with great results (I switch them out of the effects loop with a true bypass switch box).

I haven't tried the TC, but I like their products a lot. I can't imagine they wouldn't be competitive with other products. One thing I'd like to mention: I've found that the tuners in software DAWs and plugins less accurate than the hardware boxes. So I make a point of using a hardware tuner when recording, even into a DAW. I have no idea why this should be the case, but there you are.

I also use the same tuner for all the instruments on a session so that there's a common reference (this includes tuning older analog synths whose oscillators tend to drift out of tune). I've also found that some samples aren't perfectly tuned, and this is easily corrected in most hardware or software samplers.