Better than a Snark?

[BluesyRob]

Originally Posted by robj144

The Polytune or Unitune. The Unitune isn't even that much more money.

+1 for Polytune.

[Wade Hampton]

jklotz wrote:

Originally Posted by jklotz

As a side note, I've always disliked seeing somebody perform with a blob, uh, I mean tuner, sticking out of the headstock. Just doesn't look professional to me.

When I perform, I prefer using a tuner pedal, and it also give me a way to mute the signal to unplug, and doesn't leave junk attached to the headstock.

That makes perfect sense, jklotz, and is a useful option when you're playing plugged in. But not all of us play plugged in: my main paying gig these days is leading the music at my church, and we sing and play in a live room that requires minimal area miking. I've trained the musicians in the group to control their dynamics so none of us have to plug in, and prefer it that way. It sounds better, and keeps them much more sensitive to what others are playing at the same time as them.

Even when I do play in venues where I need to plug in, I prefer to keep the signal chain as simple as possible. So while you have a visual aesthetic objection to musicians keeping clip-on tuners on their headstocks, please recognize that those players doing so are, in fact, making a professional choice. There's nothing automatically unprofessional about it at all.

You don't like the way it looks, and that's fair enough: I don't care much for the way it looks, either. But it's helpful and I don't want to use a plugged-in tuner. It's my professional choice to use a tuner clipped to the instrument's headstock.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by BluesyRob

+1 for Polytune.

Same. I'd suffered through way too many junky tuners over the years, and someone posted a link for those on sale, so I grabbed one up. Darned good little tuner.

[TBman]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. My Snark is handy because it allows for a capo to 4, but it keeps telling me my D as in cgdgcD is a G, which it isn't, even when the battery is fairly new. I'll take a look at all of the suggestions.

[jklotz]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

jklotz wrote:



That makes perfect sense, jklotz, and is a useful option when you're playing plugged in. But not all of us play plugged in: my main paying gig these days is leading the music at my church, and we sing and play in a live room that requires minimal area miking. I've trained the musicians in the group to control their dynamics so none of us have to plug in, and prefer it that way. It sounds better, and keeps them much more sensitive to what others are playing at the same time as them.

Even when I do play in venues where I need to plug in, I prefer to keep the signal chain as simple as possible. So while you have a visual aesthetic objection to musicians keeping clip-on tuners on their headstocks, please recognize that those players doing so are, in fact, making a professional choice. There's nothing automatically unprofessional about it at all.

You don't like the way it looks, and that's fair enough: I don't care much for the way it looks, either. But it's helpful and I don't want to use a plugged-in tuner. It's my professional choice to use a tuner clipped to the instrument's headstock.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

I get it Wade. I do. I still think maybe one of those sound hole ones would look more professional? Oh, and oddly enough, a capo on the headstock doesn't bother me. Go figure.

That's cool you guys go unplugged. One of these days, I'm going to find a musical situation that doesn't require plugging in. I'd imagine that would be quite refreshing.

[TBman]

After a thorough review of the responses {eenie, meanie, minee, moe } I ordered a Peterson StroboClip HD clip on. It comes with 50 "sweetened" presets which will be handy.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by jklotz

As a side note, I've always disliked seeing somebody perform with a blob, uh, I mean tuner, sticking out of the headstock. Just doesn't look professional to me.

When I perform, I prefer using a tuner pedal, and it also give me a way to mute the signal to unplug, and doesn't leave junk attached to the headstock.

I can understand why you might not like the look of it, but 99.7% of your audience neither knows, nor cares.

[jschmitz54]

I use the TC Unitune. I compared it with a strobe tuner and it was very accurate.

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by TBman

After a thorough review of the responses {eenie, meanie, minee, moe } I ordered a Peterson StroboClip HD clip on. It comes with 50 "sweetened" presets which will be handy.

I think you'll be glad you did.

Good choice.

[Wade Hampton]

After I mentioned that the church music group that I lead doesn’t plug in the guitars, jklotz wrote:

Originally Posted by jklotz

I get it Wade. I do. I still think maybe one of those sound hole ones would look more professional? Oh, and oddly enough, a capo on the headstock doesn't bother me. Go figure.

That's cool you guys go unplugged. One of these days, I'm going to find a musical situation that doesn't require plugging in. I'd imagine that would be quite refreshing.

It just sounds so much better. Before joining the music group that I eventually came to lead, I was a soloist in another gospel group where everyone plugged in and had their amps right beside them. One guy wouldn’t hear himself as well as he’d like, so he’d turn up his amp a little bit, and then the next guy couldn’t hear himself as clearly, so HE’D turn up, so on down the line. It would turn into “Battle of the Bands” every single time we played, or “Battle of the Amplifiers,” to be more accurate.

I thought to myself: “If I ever end up leading a worship band, we will NOT be doing any of this crap...” Fortunately, we have a nice live room at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Anchorage, so I was able to wean the two guys who were using amps away from them, and we’ve never used them on a regular basis since.

The two exceptions to that are the bass guitar, of course, and occasionally I’ll plug my baritone and standard six string guitars directly into the board if I’m playing a soft intro or am fingerpicking. The mountain dulcimers I sometimes play for specific songs need to be plugged in, too, or else they won’t be heard very well.

But other than that we try to keep it acoustic.


Wade Hampton Miller

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by JNowlin

I'd recommend the Peterson StroboClip HD

I agree. Best one I've used.

[Hasbro]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

And I happen to prefer the TC Polytune and Unitune. But you're correct, these two competing brands seem to be the state of the art for clip-on headstock tuners right now.



I do miss the swiveling of the Snark, as it makes it much easier to position the display exactly where you'd like it. That's a convenience given the number of different instruments I play. But the significantly greater accuracy of the Polytune makes that moot.



By the way, I've never broken a Snark tuner, but then I'm not a big burly roughneck like Desert Twang. Has anyone here besides me ever met him in person? He has an imposing physical presence, let's leave it at that. I saw him get so annoyed by a guy who dared to bring an Ovation guitar to a bluegrass jam session that he took the Ovation in one big hand and crushed it like an eggshell! I'm not making this up!!!









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Okay, well maybe I am. But he COULDA done that! Don't mess with Desert Twang!!!



Insincerely,





Wade Hampton Miller

This hampton character makes me laugh

[frankmcr]

Heck, I eat those wimpy little snark tuners for breakfast.

[Paddy1951]

I have PolyTune tuners. Good tuners but pricey.

As accurate and easier to read are the Fishman FT-2 tuners. They are also smaller. At $15.00 or less they are a bargain.

I have gone through my share of Snark tuners. I am not a fan. They are not very durable IMO.

[rabbuhl]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

I use the TC Unitune. I compared it with a strobe tuner and it was very accurate.

The Unitune is a strobe tuner.
https://www.musicradar.com/news/tc-e...une-clip-tuner

Also, I cannot emphasize that for floor tuners the Turbo Tuner is great. It is a strobe tuner and allows you to tune really fast. They have a mini version too.

https://www.turbo-tuner.com