Tuner question

[bjc]

Greetings,

# # I need opinions on which tuners (reasonably priced)are the best for tuning an unplugged mandolin...i.e. this one doesn't have a pick up.
#

[glauber]

Intellitouch (http://www.tuners.com/pt1.asp), a well proven favourite for home and stage, or the new one by Korg (http://www.elderly.com/accessories/items/AW1.htm), which has a lot of promise.

[bjc]

Glauber (or whomever),

What is the difference between the stripped down verison and the upscale one?

[glauber]

The stripped down version lacks 2 features:
(1) The backlighting. That's a real bummer, because the PT1 has really nice red backlighting that works very well on a dark stage.
(2) The ability to "tune" to an instrument. The PT1 lets you play a note in an instrument and adjust the tuner's reference (good, for example, when you're playing with a piano that's tuned a little flat).

What i like about the Intellitouch is that it's very sensitive, but only picks up your instrument, so you can barely touch the strings and check your tuning without bothering anyone else. Most people who start using it, tend to hit the strings too hard and overwhelm the tuner.

[glauber]

I haven't used the Korg, but it's interesting because it has the contact pickup like the Intellitouch, but also has a microphone, so you can use the pickup for noisy situations and the microphone when it's quiet enough, as you prefer.

Intellitouch shows up on ebay often. I bought mine there (used).

[8ch(pl)]

I have a Seiko and a Korg. I find the Seiko to be sort of "too sensitive" using just the mike. I use the Korg mostly at work and do not have a clamp on jack for it, I do for the Seiko. I like them both, but lean more toward the Korg.

I had an old analogue needle guitar tuner which I gave away. It was at least 15 years old and gave me great service. I wish I had kept it for a backup. It was not chromatic, but dependable as get out.

[glauber]

And really, these days you can get acceptable tuners for, like, $10. We're talking high-end here... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I haven't seen a tuner yet that wouldn't work. As i said, the main reason i like the ones with clip is that they work well in noisy situations.

But actually, most of the time i just tune by ear. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[mandopete]

I recently purchased a KORG GT-12 chromatic tuner, primarily for use with the guitar (and subsequesnt capo'ing issues). I also have a Seiko ST1707 which I also find a bit too sensitive like 8ch(pl) above.

These are both "needle" type tuners with a transducer connected via 1/4" phone plug (as opposed to the clamp-on type such as the Intellitouch).

The KORG GT-12 has sevral modes for tuning instrument such as bass, ukulele and guitar open tunings. #It has a backlight feature and also displays the pitch in several octaves. #I'm finding that I really like this tuner a lot.

Now I only wish that some one would make a clamp-on tuner with an analog (needle) display. #I find that I just can't get the hang of the digital display models. #YMMV.

[Jim Garber]

I am not all that fond of the Intellitouch.I boughty one for my wife and it sort of stopped working altogther after awhile.

I bought a cheapo Korg for myself, I think CA30, which you can get for under $20 then sprung for a clip mic made by Matrix for about $15. Works as well or better than the Intellitouch. I have seen the Korg clip on and it is cool looking but I have a few mandolins that have unorthodox pegheads and bridges and I know that the Intellitouch cannot clip anywhere in it.

Just my 2c.

Jim

[dave42]

I've used different tuners. I have an old Sabine tuner that I really liked because it was stable.. didn't jump around and went right to tuning.

So when Sabine (http://www.sabine.com/) came out recently with an inexpensive tuner called the NexTune-12Z, I gave it a try. Works like my old Sabine but in a compact package! Highly recommended. Dave

[dan watson]

i got a sabine tuner eons ago for my guitar. i still have it and use for my mandolin...i'm new to mandolin (bought mine Aug 12 and learning chords like mad.I've found the acoustic feature works quite well. I just put the tuner on my leg and have at it. What i'm trying to say is the sabine has been a workhorse for me...lost battery cover and use tape to keep battery from falling out lol, unfortunatly i'm tuner dependent...you don't want me to tune your kazoo by ear (grin). I would recomend the sabine tuners with no qualms...;-)

[acousticphd]

I also use the Korg CA30 and a clip-on transducer. I like this setup because you can clip to the bridge - imo, this is where the tuner "hears" the instrument the clearest and you get a steadier reading. I usually lose or break about one tuner per year, so it's also the economical choice. You can't tune on the fly like you might want to in a performance, but for the periodic retuning it's fine.

[mandogoshen]

Have to chime in with the last post by 'acousticphd'. #Have a Korg CA-30 tuner I received as a Christmas present.

# #Tried to tune using the mic as my new mando doesn't have a transducer. #In my living room it was 'ok', but at the gig...the tuner jumped all over the place on every string.

# #So, I had to have the guitar player play minor chords(Gm, Dm, Am, Em-the flatted 3d's allow one's ear to focus in on the 'tonic' a little better) and got an 'approximate ballpark tuning'. #It was a frustrating experience.

# #I was relating this to my neighbor who's a guitar player and he mentioned he'd just purchased a clip-on transducer from Musician's Friend for $5.00. #He let me borrow it for a minute and POW!! #Worked like a charm.

# #Even on the high E the needle held as I dropped the pitch below and brought it up slowly. #The transducer was clipped to the bridge on the treble side.

# #Will post back after this weekend as I've got another gig and will try out this system.

[JGWoods]

Intellitouch tuners have always been too jumpy for me. I really like the Korg tuners, accurate and steady. The new clip on is really nice
BUT
no backlight and really hard to see in anything less than bright light- with old eyes anyway. Still I use it all the time.

[mandroid]

The bridge clip piezo >1/4" plug,
(schatten uses a regular battery terminal spring clamp with the piezo crystal epoxy'd inside)
its still the best way to tune the banjo-mando,
although, my newer tuner is the intellitouch,
the korg chromatic [ca-10,9v.powered] is still good.
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Bob DeVellis]

I'm a huge fan of the Sabines. I also have a Korg and an Intellitouch and pretty much never use them. I find that the Sabine ST-1100 used with an alligator-clip transducer is the only consistently reliable one of the bunch. By reliable, I mean that it gives consistent readings. With either the Intellitouch or the Korg (also using an alligator clip), I can get the string to read in tune, pluck it, get a reading, dampen it to silence, pluck it again, etc, and get a slightly- to moderately-different different reading with each trial. Only the Sabine seems to give consistent results. Once it reads in tune, repeating the process continues to indicate that it's in tune. This has been true on the Sabine across at least a couple of dozen different instruments. With the other two, because I use them less often, they've only been tried on maybe half-a-dozen instruments each but the result has always been the same: poor reliability.

Not everyone may have the same experience. Maybe there's something about my tuning technique that is better adapted to a particular type of tuner. I bought the Intellitouch on the strength of others' recommendations and got the Korg once when I unexpectedly purchased a mandolin out of town and wanted a tuner while I was on the road with it. The Korg is very compact and fits in virtually any case. But only the Sabine has served me consistently well. Oddly, the Sabine misbehaves a bit when it's used with an AC adaptor, seeming to pick up vibrations a bit too readily, but on battery, it's a champ.

[Steve G]

Does anyone know if those Peterson strobe tuners have a built in mic or are clip on adaptable? I don't use a pick up.

[mandroid]

peterson even makes their own clip for their strobo tuners.

[Jason Kessler]

Another vote for Sabine.

[250sc]

Sabine MT900. tuner and metronome.

[mandogoshen]

Reporting back after the gig. #Using a Korg CA-30 and a $5.00 clip-on from MF I borrowed from my neighbor. #My only complaint is the transducer doesn't have a long enough cord. #So, you can't 'tune on the fly' in the middle of a set. #However, the combination worked great in a noisy room. #Tuning just before the start of the set, fine tuning during and tuning at the end was enough. #I double on guitar and have a Baggs, so the CA-30 works well for both the guitar and mandolin. #Have a rack mount Sabine I use when playing bass, but have found it a little jumpy for acoustic guitar and mando.

[BlueMountain]

While your concerns about the Intellitouch not always reading the string the same way are well-founded, I love the handiness of having it right on the headstock, and the red backlight is very nice. Another problem is that it's really designed more for a guitar than for a mandolin. A guitar's headstock is slightly thicker, so the Intellitouch's spring holds it on with a little more pressure from the spring. On a mandolin, it's not under much tension. Last week while gigging mine flew off in the midst of a solo. It wasn't damaged, but I've been warned that they don't take kindly to falls onto hard floors. I've been wondering if I could beef it up by gluing on some sort of shim, so the spring would hold it on the mandolin more tightly. Or, what if I put a piece of low-tackiness double-stick tape on one of the jaw faces. What would be nice is if those jaws stuck out twice as far.

[ira]

i've dropped my intellitouch pleanty, and it has always stood up. really important to change the batteries periodically, as your first trouble shoot with signs of difficulty. i've only done this twice in 2 years. i love it- handy, doesn't matter who is playing around you (though i do face away from others to avoid sympathetic vibration), easy to read.

[ira]

ps- the only thing that did happen was that the little screw holding the tuner and the clip fell out. i contacted the company, and they immediately sent me a new one in the mail-rec'd 2 days later.

[Ray(T)]

I have two tuners - had them for years and never had to change the batteries. One is on the right side of my head and the other is on the left. All I need is a reference note. If there isn't one available, it doesn't matter whether I am slightly sharp or flat. When they stop working I'll know that its time to give up playing!

[Pete Martin]

The Peterson (fantastic tuner) has a 1/4" insert jack, the same size as the Matrix clip.

I dont think the Intellitouch tuners are very accurate. #I played in a 5 piece band where everyone but me used one. #Everyone went to seperate rooms to tune. #When we came back to the same room, we were still out of tune. #I had everyone use the Peterson, and we were fine.