Anyone tried this tuner?

Bob Holo

http://www.planetwaves.com/tuners/sos_tuner.html

It's a handheld strobe tuner. It would seem to be a small elegant way to solve a couple of real pain in the butt problems. Clip on tuners are great - particularly the lighted ones as they can be used in dark venues and etc... but the good ones are $90+ and I've lost three of them now. But more than that - sometimes you really have to pluck a note hard to get them to do an accurate job... which isn't exactly good stage etiquette - and I've found that sometimes background noise or hum will excite the soundboard enough to further interfere with tuning using a contact tuner - particularly if the guy next to you is also tuning up... which is pretty much always the case at jams and gigs. This would seem to do away with those problems if it is indeed as easy to use and high quality as they say. My guess is that you'd have to pluck and observe at the 12th fret in order to keep harmonics from messing with it. This is basically the same technology that turntables have had built into them for years. But if they're decent - a guy could get a handful of them and put one in every guitar case he has and a few scattered around on coffee tables at home and be done with it... never have to hunt around for a tuner again... You'd probably have to write your name on them with a marker as I imagine these would disappear faster than Wegens

So - has anyone tried one?

Bones

Hi Bob,

I like these:

http://www.musicalinstrumenthaven.com/i ... tegory=117

They work great, are not too affected by ambient noise, seem accurate. The only drawbacks I have noticed is you have to pick a little harder for the low A and E strings (or use the harmonic) and the buttons rattle a little bit which you only really notice if you are playing alone and very quietly.

Best part is they are cheap so if you lose it it's not the end of the world, although I lost one at a gig and I was a little bummed.

richdaigle

Bob don't waste a coin that planet waves thing it's a is a really cheap cheesy thing, and easier to lose than the other clip ons you had...

Waves does make a strobe desktop model that is cool but sucks on gigs(great on work bench though)

Peterson foot model can't be beat for gigging...not cheap though

BluesBop Harry

Haven't tried those but I'm happy with my cheap black Korg tuner, I let the edge of my guitar rest on it or if there's too much noise I just plug into it.
I've wondered about these:
http://www.sabine.com/sabine-music-acce ... AX3000.htm
They are supposed to stick on and off easy...

Ken Bloom

Hi Bob,

I've been using a Seiko tuner now for several years and it's wonderful. Reasonably compact, sensitive, good about ambient noise, and very accurate. I like the VU meter so that I know how many cents out a string is. Highly recommended.

Ken Bloom

Michael Bauer

Bob, I use the Meisel, same as Bones, and I like it alot as well. I picked it up at the music store in Northampton at Django in June two years ago. It never falls off, tunes accurately, and is small enough that I don't ever have to take it off to fit any of my guitars in its case. Bones is right about the A and low E, but I find that a 12th fret harmonic works perfectly on those two stings. The light turns on and off, so you have it for a dark room, but don't have to waste the battery otherwise.

Bob Holo

Doesn't sound like there is a rousing chorus in favor of this little bugger...

On a positive side, you're right - looking online there are actually some pretty good looking tuners for decent prices. I'm amazed at the price difference for tuners at online stores. Maybe tuners are another one of the things I just need to buy online. I think I actually discovered Djangobooks out of frustration at $16 Argentines haha... tough to remember back, but I think that's true... either that or it was the thing that caught in my mind so that when I met Michael it was like... Hey - you're that cheap strings guy - thank you so much!! So I took gypsy picking and started down the road. Man... that was a few years back. Well, not too many, but half a dog's life or so.

Thanks gents.

pdaigle

Ken Bloom wrote:

Hi Bob,

I've been using a Seiko tuner now for several years and it's wonderful. Reasonably compact, sensitive, good about ambient noise, and very accurate. I like the VU meter so that I know how many cents out a string is. Highly recommended.

Ken Bloom

+1 on this.

I use a Seiko STX1 clip-on and I love it. Very resistant to ambient noise because it uses a contact mike and very easy to read.

Cheers,

djangology

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... metronomes

I still like the classic Intellitouch PT1 tuner. I like now I can set my guitar down and it supports the headstock, keeping the tuning keys from touching the floor (or whatever)...

Swing 69

Djangology...Does PT1 have a backlight?

Cheers

Bones

Swing 69,

I think they do have a back lit version called PT-2 or something like that.

I've had the Intellitouch and the Meisel and I think the Meisel is a bit less sensitive to ambient noise.