Always-on tuners with mute

[richardjmorgan]

Okay, I hope I'm explaining this ok, but are there any tuner pedals out there that are always on, but with a footswitchable mute? As far as I can tell you can only get things that let you switch the tuner on and off with a footswitch, with the option of it also muting when the tuner's on. Or am I being stupid?

[jrixn1]

StroboStomp can do this - they call it "monitoring mode".   Another approach is any tuner in conjunction with an (active) ABY pedal.  Put amp on path A, tuner on path B; and then use 'Y' mode when playing, or just channel B to mute the amp.
 

[Teebs]

The Boss TU-2 (maybe the TU-3 as well) can do this, I'm pretty sure. (I've got the TU-2 - not sure if it's still available tho).

You have a choice of 'bypass' or 'output' - I can't remember which is the correct method for achieving what you want, but one of them does.

I'd check, but I don't have it with me at the mo.

 

[floFC]

5 minutes ago, Teebs said:

You have a choice of 'bypass' or 'output' - I can't remember which is the correct method for achieving what you want, but one of them does.

Bypass is always on. The signal on Output will get cut when the TU-2/3 is switched on.

You don’t  need to plug anything in output, I.e if you plug your amp into the Bypass and switch the tuner on it will achieve what you’re after.

[jrixn1]

28 minutes ago, floFC said:

Bypass is always on. The signal on Output will get cut when the TU-2/3 is switched on.

You don’t  need to plug anything in output, I.e if you plug your amp into the Bypass and switch the tuner on it will achieve what you’re after.

I'm not sure about this - he wants the tuner to always be on, with the footswitch toggling whether the signal to the amp is muted.

However, using the Boss's bypass mode means that the output to the amp is always on, which is different.  With that setup, pressing the footswitch will turn the tuner on/off but it will never mute the signal to the amp.
 

[jrixn1]

You could use the Boss in bypass mode followed by a separate mute pedal.

[richardjmorgan]

13 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

You could use the Boss in bypass mode followed by a separate mute pedal.

Yeah, this is what I thought might be the case; was wondering if there was an alternative that would allow me to save space on my board.

[reesource]

I was thinking about this only yesterday. I don't understand why this isn't an option on the Boss tuners. In my function band one of our medleys is 45 minutes long, with hardly any opportunities to mute, tune and un-mute, so tweaking the tuning while playing an open string would be useful. 

I wonder if the TU-3 could be modded to achieve this?

[dannybuoy]

9 hours ago, richardjmorgan said:

Yeah, this is what I thought might be the case; was wondering if there was an alternative that would allow me to save space on my board.

Boss TU-3S is always on and half the size:

Combine that with a tiny mute switch. Hunt down, DIY, or get someone to make one in this size box (this JHS one is a mute switch but only momentary so you’d have to hold your foot on it):

[jrixn1]

I don't have one, but sounds like the Polytune 3 can do this.

 

[reesource]

Nice, the Polytune is a good option. Thanks jrixn1. Also I found this page to do with modding a TU-3: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/boss-tu-3-mod.983252/page-2

So if you don't already have a tuner, the Polytune is probably your best bet. I might just build a little mute switch like dannybuoy suggested.