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david57strat
New member
This was the very first tuner I ever owned (and still do, for nostalgia's sake)
Using a tuning fork requires a guitarist to really fine-tune his sense of relative pitch, in order to obtain a decently in-tune instrument- which I did
.
Went through numerous BOSS TU-12 and TU12H tuners over the years. They were alright, but tuning tech has improved vastly over the years. I always managed to destroy the connectors (which, I believe, were surface mount, rather than any kind of solid, point-to-point connection. They just didn't last me).
I also later picked up a TU-12EX - which I still have, but never use any more, since purchasing the pedal tuners. Oddly that one can run on a pair of AAA batteries (as opposed to a 9-volt).
Not sure if the jacks on the TU-12EX are constructed any better than those of the TU-12s. Still works perfectly, to this day, though. I kind of keep that one around for nostalgic reasons, too. I doubt I'll ever use it again, in this lifetime.
I know - these aren't tuner pedals, per se, but they're part of my tuner history.
For something to throw in a case, to go to the park, or wherever I'm not going to be plugging in and don't want to bother with a pedal (battery-operated or not), I usually use a polytune or unitune - not as pictured, but in strobe mode.
If I were to lose/forget this tuner some place, I'd be a little bummed out, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. But a pedal tuner would freak me out I'd be pissed off with myself for a long time about it.
I had a BOSS TU-50 - also not a pedal LOL (sorry, no pictures of that one) half-space rack unit) in my rack, back in the early 90s (?), but realized the TU-12 was actually more accurate, although the TU-50 looked cooler and was easier to read from a distance :|.
I sold off the TU-50 straight away and never looked back.
Now, I have these five tuners, ordinarily spread out on different boards.
Left to Right:
- tc electronic polytune2 Noir
- Sonic Research Turbo Tuner Mini
- Sonic Research Turbo Tuner full-sized
- Walrus Audio Canvas, and
- Peterson StroboStomp HD.
The polytune2 Noir was the very first pedal tuner I ever purchased, back in 2018, as I recall. It was worlds better than the TU needle tuners I used previously. Night and day.
The most recent tuner purchase was the Walrus Audio Canvas.
They're all decent tuners, and naturally I have opinions about all of them; but the bottom line is the Sonic Research Turbo Tuners are the most deadly accurate tuners I own, and they track a note faster than anything I've ever used before or since. I'm very pleased with the read-out, as well (although I can never capture it clearly in a decent picture).
They are, by far, my #1 choice for a solid pedal tuner. Wouldn't dream of buying anything else, for a new board. The StroboStomp HD and Canvas tuners are both pretty nifty, but for just plain old speedy, deadly accurate tuning, the Turbo Tuners win out, every time.
Horrible pictures - amazing tuner.
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