Clip-on Tuners

[obbm]

Does anyone use one?

Which is best for bass?

[john_the_bass]

yes I have one, only really use it for acoustic guitars - I've not tested it with an electric guitar or bass. It seems to track very quickly, quicker than my TU-2. Can't remember what it's called, but I'm about to do some restringing and will report back shortly

[~tl]

I have one of the Intelli ones (IMT-500). I mainly use it on the guitar, but it's OK on the bass to. It sometimes has a little trouble picking up the E and B strings – but tuning on the 19th fret harmonics seems to work nicely.

[john_the_bass]

Having just changed a set of strings on my SG, I can confirm I have an "Intelli Chromatic Tuner IMT-500" and it's, well...a bit crap actually.
It took ages to register a note and in some cases, I had to play the 12th fret harmonic to pick anything up. Tuning up a B, the tuner thought it was F#, so I just let it get on with it! I've not tried it on bass yet, but it does work very well with my acoustic guitar.

My dad has one, no idea what make it is, my brother bought it for him (if that piece of info is helpful!) and it has a built in mic, plus the backlight changes colour when the note is tuned to pitch. Seemed accurate when I used it at the weekend but that was with an acoustic guitar. Don't know if the auld fella has tried it with his bass though.

[Alun]

I have a £20 Hudson one which works pretty well. It does occasionally have trouble recognising lower notes but plucking by the bridge and/or using 12th fret harmonics soon cures that. I use it for fretless practice too - very useful as a reference.

Cheers
Alun

[Happy Jack]

Interested to see John The Bass's comments on the IMT500 because I won't leave home without mine!

It's a permanent fixture on the headstock whenever I play live, and a constant re-assurance when I need it. I always tune using 12th-fret harmonics, never by plucking an open string, so maybe that's why I've never had any trouble with mine.

On both the E and B strings, if you hit the string too hard then the IMT500 is sensitive enough to pick up the secondary harmonics. If you give the string a second or so to settle down, the tuner then reverts to reporting the correct note.

The only tuner I ever use in preference to the IMT500 is when I have my main rig out and I can use my rack-mounted Korg. It's actually no more accurate ... but it's way prettier.

[john_the_bass]

I have to add that I've also restrung my Martin tonight and that was much better. I think the SG was the worst, possibly because it's the lightest guitar and as these things presumably use the resonance or vibrations to display the frequency of the note, presumably mass has something to do with it.

I'd still prefer a pedal tuner every time

[peted]

I was put off these clip-on tuners by a bass playing buddy of mine who had one and complained that it just wouldn't track an open 'E'. I suspect that experience is really reliant on the bass you play too, and how well the vibrations travel through the neck.

[Happy Jack]

That may well be the case, but I use mine on all my basses. That includes a Dingwall Z2 (with a 37" B-string), Lakland Skylines, old Rickenbackers, vintage short-scale Hofners (solids, semi's and hollows), and a Guild Ashbory with the rubber strings.

Part of the attraction for me is that I only need one clip-on tuner, and it works on every bass (and, I should add, every guitar) I clip it to.

I'm guessing that most people who struggle with these things are trying to tune by plucking open strings. With any type of tuner, harmonics will always work better unless your instrument has issues with either action or intonation. If that's the case, then any tuner will be of limited use.

With some of my more battered Hofners, I have to make a conscious choice between tuning on the 12th-fret harmonic, or the open string, or at the 5th fret. If there's a warped neck and a high action, having perfect tuning on the 12th-fret harmonic is of little use when I'm playing the 'A' on the E-string and getting A# instead ...

[obbm]

Thanks for your comments. I've ordered one and I'll let you now how I get on with it.

[rmorris]

[quote name='obbm' post='322799' date='Nov 5 2008, 06:01 PM']Thanks for your comments. I've ordered one and I'll let you now how I get on with it.[/quote]

I just bought an Emerson EGT-1 last Saturday. £20.
Tried 3 different ones in the shop and this tracked bottom E well ( one of the others didn't ) and looked more discreet ( it's black ) than the other.
Works well on all the basses I've tried it with plus electro-acoustic guitar and electric guitar.
On/Clip/Mic switch not the most positive action - can still be off when it looks like it should be on - but no problem once switched on.

I'm happy with it - it's really convenient having it on the headstock where it's easy to read - although I guess it'll be difficult to use with my Hohner B2A :-)