Headstock tuner...

[NancyJohnson]

Opinions on headstock tuners please.

Bought a Reverb branded one a couple of years back, which is great (but no longer available) then recently bought a D'Addario/Planet Waves one which is pretty poor (it struggles on the E&B strings).

Cheers.

[fretmeister]

I have the D’addario and a snark one.

the snark is much better and cheaper.

 

Heard good things about the TC one though. 

[dave_bass5]

Ive got Two TC Electronics ones and find they work perfectly for my basses, even my 5 strings. Ive had Snarks and D'Addario and all have been fine. 

[DoubleOhStephan]

I've used both Snark & TC Electronic. 

My own experience of Snark is they seem quite fragile and short lived. After my 5th one stopped working, I bit the bullet and paid (a fair bit) more for the TC which is still going strong. 

The only issue I have with the TC is it seems to struggle with E a little bit, something that Snark have no problem with. 

Hope this helps. 

[Monkey Steve]

I'm on my second D'Addario one and have no problems with the low B.  

Admittedly it's the second one because the first fell to pieces, as did a previous non-D'Addario one - as per @DoubleOhStephan seems to be an issue with cheap headstock tuners.  But I like the D'Addario's display, and I only use it in the front room for both electric and acoustic bass and guitars so it's fine for me.  Wouldn't take it on stage.

[DanOwens]

I like the yellow Korg Pitchclip 2. I mount it on the reverse of the headstock or on my double bass bridge and as its yellow it doesn't stand out like a black one would. I can press and hold the power button so it inverts the display which is essential to most of my mounting locations. And its cheap!

[casapete]

Snark user here. Got a few now and they all work great, not too big / intrusive, will adjust angle to exactly where I need them , bright display but don’t eat batteries and not a lot of money either. Think I paid around £12 each for mine. If you get one though keep it quiet on here, as headstock tuners are just for amateurs, apparently....🤣

[Lozz196]

TC Unitune, it actually works in a gig environment, it’s all I’ve used for gigs since I bought one for a flying gig to cut down on weight. 

[la bam]

Snark works well for me. Nice and cheap. Batteries last forever too.

[BlueMoon]

I'm happy with mine: "Peterson Strobo Clip HD"

[missis sumner]

TC Unitune for me too.  Nice clear display.

[Crawford13]

I use the TC polytune clip, it’s great. I have had it for 3 years and it is still great. If it broke I would get the unitune as the polyphonic feature isn’t actually that useful to me.

[yorks5stringer]

TC Unitune for me too.

 

Oh, and always attach it  'the wrong way around' in stealth mode.

Edited January 22, 2020 by yorks5stringer

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I have a pair of TC Electronic Polytune clips - a black one and a white one. I never use the polyphonic mode and would have bought a unitune clip if it was available when I bought the white one or if the unitune was available in black. They are excellent tuners, very fast and accurate and I use them on everything from my ukuleles to my NS CR5M upright.

[ambient]

I’ve got the TC Unitune. It’s very accurate and reads a low B extremely well. My only gripe with it, which is quite minor really, it doesn’t stay switched on for very long, if you’re tuning from scratch, say after putting new strings on, you’ll need to switch it on a couple of times before you’ve finished.

[Skybone]

TC PolyTune Clip or TC UniTune Clip.

Much prefer the UniTune for Bass to the Poly, but I believe they are now discontinued.

[chris_b]

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Opinions on headstock tuners please.

Bought a Reverb branded one a couple of years back, which is great (but no longer available) then recently bought a D'Addario/Planet Waves one which is pretty poor (it struggles on the E&B strings).

Cheers.

I bought a D'Addario clip-on tuner and it broke in the first month.

I'd be interested to know which is the best clip-on tuner for low B's.

[uk_lefty]

Would be interesting to combine the tuner with the old "mass/ sustain increaser" thingy, did Fender call it the Fat Finger or something? 

I have a cheap one I keep in a case for those gigs where there is no room for the floor pedal, it's could even be Harley Benton. It's OK, does enough of a job. 

[Bobthedog]

TC Unitune for me at home and it is as accurate as my Peterson Strobo Stomp  HD (my favourite tuner ever - until the next bass show at least!). I also have  the TC Polytune too.  

[Stub Mandrel]

Snark for me, mainly because it tracks so quickly and follows notes up and down. Works well with anything including violin, ukes and mandos as well as bass.

I have a 'Guitarman' one and if you drop the string it doesn't react until you mute and pluck the string again.

I did have a Fender one which was very good too 9and silly cheap) but lost it.

 

[TheGreek]

My experience is that they're a mixed bunch...

I've had some which took a lifetime to settle or find a note, others which are fine. Cost doesn't seem to figure in the quality - I think the one I have at work was £1 and works just fine - on acoustic geeetars anyway.

[madshadows]

I got one of these from Amazon this week and it works great

LEKATO Clip On Metronome Tuner Tone Generator Large Backlit Display 3 in 1 Multifunction Portable Guitar Tuner for All Instruments, Bass, Chromatic Instruments, Violin and Ukulele.

 

John

[PaulWarning]

I've found, on those quid ones from reverb, that if you pluck the string too hard they don't work on the E string, but gently pluck it and it's fine

[Bolo]

All of them look ugly and unprofessional.

I have a Thomann branded one at home and it works barely.

[Stub Mandrel]

6 minutes ago, Bolo said:

All of them look ugly and unprofessional.

Tell people it's a GoPro recording for your next live DVD.