Strobe tuner???

Barbara Hennerman · Post by **Barbara Hennerman** » 13 May 2002 5:20 pm

What is your preference? I have a Boss tuner I really like, but I tried a strobe tuner and I was right in. Whatdya think? Is this strictly a matter of preference or is one better than the other?

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 13 May 2002 5:32 pm

The strobe tuner, I'm assuming you have a Peterson, would be more accurate; and for complex sounds, you can see the other prominate parts of the sound (partials) and what octave they inhabit, that would normally confuse the Boss. The Boss is a lot more convenient though, looking at the dial and listening usually works well enough for me.

C Dixon · Post by **C Dixon** » 13 May 2002 6:58 pm

One of the finest strobe tuners I have seen is the "Precision Strobe Tuner".

http://www.izzy.net/~jc/home.html

I would love to have one, but they are quite expensive. But if one had one, I believe they would love it.

carl

Martin Weenick · Post by **Martin Weenick** » 13 May 2002 11:49 pm

Barbara, I have a Boss TU-12 H that is a great tuner, but I am using a KORG CA- 30 that I got from Carters. To me, you cant beat this little machine and for only $ 24 to $30 dollars. They are so handy and accurate.

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Martin W. Emmons LG III 3/5 Peavy 1000

RON PRESTON · Post by **RON PRESTON** » 14 May 2002 2:17 am

A STROBE tuner ANYTIME.
You just CANNOT beat them with an UGLY STICK.

I wish I had my old Conn that I had back in the '80s.
Got TIPPSY and left it at the Utah State fair bandstand.
We were in friggin Montanna and set up for our next gig when I realized I left it in Utah.
Oh, well, I guess I have learned my lesson.
Friends don't let friends Drink-and-Pick.

Chick Donner · Post by **Chick Donner** » 14 May 2002 5:36 am

Try the Korg DTR-1 . . .you get it all.

Barbara Hennerman · Post by **Barbara Hennerman** » 14 May 2002 3:40 pm

Thanks. Just wondering what the pros (like you guys) preferred. I know I was very impressed with the strobe but it is very expensive. I would like to try a Korg. I've heard before that they are pretty awesome.
Thanks again for your help.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 14 May 2002 3:54 pm

I had a Conn Strobo Tuner in the 70's and I loved it. It sure settled a lot of argumnents about who was in tune or who was out of tune, pronto!

I sold it for $75. Didn't need it when I quit the band...al

Steven Knapper · Post by **Steven Knapper** » 14 May 2002 7:39 pm

Tell ya'all something about that Korg CA30, when I get lazy and don't want to setup my case with the DTR-1 in it, I just LAY that little CA30 on the guitar, touching the fret board. It works well enough to practice with, AND if you check it against the DTR, it's pretty close. Really, you don't even have to plug it in, just lay it on the top of the guitar. Someone else try it, see if it works for you.

Del Rangel · Post by **Del Rangel** » 14 May 2002 10:28 pm

I agree the Korg works well. Can't beat them for the price. Small, light, and it'll get you where you need to be quickly. Thanks for the tip Steven.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 15 May 2002 4:34 am

Have any of y'all tried the new Sabine RT-7000? Rack-mounted, supposed to be real accurate.

Keith Hilton · Post by **Keith Hilton** » 15 May 2002 7:52 pm

Barbara I might come by and visit with you this next hunting season. We hunt elk near where you live. We always stay in Craig. I never get over to Rangley, we usually don't go any further west than Maybell. As you know Maybell is a really big town. I love the area where you live. I would really like to do a lot of walking in Dinosaur National Park. I forget the name of the other river that joins the Yampa at Rangley?

Barbara Hennerman · Post by **Barbara Hennerman** » 15 May 2002 9:59 pm

Keith, Please do stop by. I'd love to meet you. I believe you're talking about the White River. It runs right through Rangely. Yes, Maybell is a thriving metropolis just like Rangely. We love to walk around the hills, it really is great.

If you're serious, my address is 301 E. Raven Avenue. You can call when you get into town and I can direct you - 675-8941.

Rick Barber · Post by **Rick Barber** » 18 May 2002 9:09 am

Hi Barbara,

We recently bought a Peterson electronic strobe tuner. I use it for everything now. I use it for steel and 6 string. My son uses is in his piano tuning business and uses it professionally for bassoon and clarinet. I think he picked it up for around $200 a music dealer friend.

Best Regards,
Rick Barber

Duane Dunard · Post by **Duane Dunard** » 18 May 2002 12:08 pm

I think I was one of the very first dealers last year to stock the new Peterson VS-1 hand-held strobe tuner. It's kind of expensive at $329.00 list, but we sell them on sale for $264.00 plus postage. It works off batteries but also comes with an AC adapter. This tuner will do everything all other strobe tuners are capable of, plus fit nicely in you hand and will easily store in your steeler's pac-seat. I use one myself and it's the best I've ever seen.www.duanesmusic.com

Dennis Manuel · Post by **Dennis Manuel** » 19 May 2002 9:31 am

There is nothing in the world as precise as a strobe tuner. Price can verify, as in this case, you truly get what you pay for. Peterson Strobe Tuners are accurate to 1/1000th of a semitone and that is impossible for any digital meter to accomplish. I have an older strobe tuner (20 years old) and all I need to do is place the tuner on an E note and leave it there. For example, when I set the tuner on an E note and tune a G# note or any other note for that matter, there will be a certain section of the strobe that will appear steady. It may be a fine reading and possibly hard to see, however, it is there. Its learning how to use the strobe and what to look for that is of the utmost importance if you are going to get every benefit you can from a strobe tuner. The only drawback is tuning your guitar in bright sunlight, the strobe can be hard to see.

If you can afford a strobe tuner its the only way to go and demand that the other band members use it also. All will be pleasantly surprised at how well a finely tuned band sounds.

Food for thought: If you decide to go with a smaller tuner buy one with an actual meter on it such as the TU-12, not a digital read out. They look pretty, but, pretty is as pretty does.

Jason Lollar · Post by **Jason Lollar** » 19 May 2002 12:17 pm

I have an old tube conn I bought used in the mid 70's for $20. Its been on every gig I hve ever played and has gotten used in my shop several times a week for all this time. I had to get a replacment motor once ($150) which Peterson makes a retrofit for and had to replace a tube once.
The cheapo hand held crystal units are usually flat or sharp from 440 by up to 1/4 of a tone + or -. I have checked it out many times. No big deal if there is no piano player or hammond and everyone uses the same tuner.
I also get people that tried to set thier intonation on a guitar with a cheapo unit and its always off. I dont think they can read an octave up very accuratly.
I sit my conn on top of my amp and leave it running the entire night, it has thousands? of hours on it. I always get someone wanting to know "whats that"?

jerry wallace · Post by **jerry wallace** » 20 May 2002 6:23 pm

Barbara,For me the Korg DTR-1 is hard to beat for the price..It has the strobe, hertz, and cents modes.
Another great advantage to the DTR-1 , is you can see it on stage in low light..Hit the mute and touch up tuning in the middle of a song..

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Jerry Wallace-2001 Zum: D-10,8+6, "98 Zum: D-10,8+8,Nashville 1000,Session 500 ,Session 400 head only amp,Tubefex,ProfexII, Artesia, New Mexico
http://communities.msn.com/jerrywallacemusic http://www.jerrywallacemusic.com

John Russell · Post by **John Russell** » 21 May 2002 8:33 pm

If the tuning devices get any better somebody's gonna have to improve the mechanical tuners (Gotoh, Schaller, Grover, etc.) on the guitars. My Zum has Schallers and they are too "fast" to easily dial in the proper pitch. Somebody needs to step down the gear ratio so as to nail the pitch.

--JR

Terry Downs · Post by **Terry Downs** » 23 May 2002 8:06 pm

The reason why strobe tuners are are better to tune with is that they average out the frequency modulation of the string. When you pluck a string, it is tighter than at rest and will be sharp until decayed. As the string vibration decays, the sharpness decreases. Pluck the string really hard on any tuner and you can see that effect. A cheap electronic tuner often does a poor job tracking the modulating frequency because a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is perfroming a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). A Fourier transform converts time domain signal content into frequency domain information. It is accomplished by sampling portions of the digitized audio signal.

The strobe tuners (like the old Conn) uses a rotating wheel whose inertial mass smooths out the frequency shift of a decaying plucked string. This simplistic approach essentially filters this FM property of a plucked string.

The Korg DTR-1 or -2 is the only tuner I have ever seen that competes with a strobe tuner in this regard. It has a very smooth operation. It also has a strobe mode which os a great visual aid for most. And like the strobe tuners, for this quality, you must pay.

Regarding the accuracy, the Peterson tuner boasting 1/1000 of a cent is strictly esoteric. No musical instrument could be tuned, maintained, or played to much greater that 1/2 cent. You can bet that a signal generator having NO modulation is used to measure that spec of 1/1000 cent. I bet the tuner can't respond that accurately to a simulated plucked string signal.

Bottom line, I think the ability to give the user a filtered reading during string decay FM give you the most accurate results.

One tip for getting more use and accuracy out of cheap tuners is to pluck the string VERY lightly. If you took a signal generator that had low phase noise, the cheap tuners would read accurately like their specs say. Unfortunately a plucked string is a very complex signal.

My 2 cents.

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Terry Downs
http://nightshift.net
terry@nightshift.net

Barbara Hennerman · Post by **Barbara Hennerman** » 24 May 2002 3:27 pm

Thanks everybody. I guess you made up my mind. I thought the strobe was terrific and I guess it must be. That'll be the one for me soon as I rob my piggy bank.
Thanks again.

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 25 May 2002 2:23 am

Very accurate tuners have no place in the world of the steel guitar: no wooden musical instrument has a hope of coming anywhere near the stability required by a strobe tuner. Save some bucks, buy a regular tuner,pluck the string and wait until it settles down before looking at the meter, and lastly, USE YOUR EARS.

Terry Downs · Post by **Terry Downs** » 28 May 2002 7:54 pm

I agree with Richard. I intended to explain the differences between the tuners, but I do not advocate the purchase of an expensive strobe tuner. I like the response of my Korg , but I bought it mostly because of the rack mount feature and the ability to recalibrate in Hz mode. It turns out that it has some of the qualities of a strobe tuner. I don't think "very accurate" tuners have a place for any instrument.

Kenny Dail · Post by **Kenny Dail** » 28 May 2002 10:19 pm

Shud you be interested, the nearer the bridge/changer finger you excite the selected string, the less the stretch as it rings/decays nearer the pitch needed to tune. My terminology is very poor but try this if you don't have the expensive tuner.

I paid $20 for my shirt pocket Korg tuner and do not have a problem. The true test with tuning is of course, to use your ears

as well as the tuner at the same time. You may have sore ears (couldn't resist the pun) but you will be in tune as soon as you learn how to use the tool. Did I hear someone say the tool is no better than the mechanic???

Chao...

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kd...and the beat goes on...

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Kenny Dail on 28 May 2002 at 11:22 PM.]</p></FONT>