Clip on tuner recommendation

Bridgehouse

After some excellent advice on using a clip on tuner on the headstock of my fretless for checking tunings - I gave my cheapo reverb special clip on a go - it works, but it's very slow to respond and not the most accurate or easy to read.

So I'm after a clip on that's man enough for the job:

Has to be clip on - I don't want to use an app on a phone as it's a pain in the backside for bass.. and, well - I just don't
Clip on is broadly in the right place for my eyes when playing
Needs to be super quick and responsive to pick up notes as I play them
Must be good on bass (and acoustic as I'll use it for that too)
Must be easy to read on a bass headstock which is basically so far away it might as well be in a different county!

Simon_M

I asked a similar question a while ago and the general answer was Snark. I bought one and have used it on guitar and bass and think it’s great. 

thermionic

I've just tried my Polytune on a guitar now, playing up and down the frets and it seems pretty damn quick. Also very bright, and automatically flips the display if it's upside down. If it's too far away on the headstock it even works on the strap button! I haven't tried any others though, so I can't compare.

Niallseroreilly

I bought the very small and discreet planet waves/daddario tuner to sit on the back of my taylor acoustic headstock, it works great and I really like the fact that it's so small.

ToneControl

I have 2 Snarks
they are very easy to use, but not very accurate

I find the upmarket Korg ones are the best
The ones with AA batteries are less annoying for battery life

Some tuners are not very accurate on the bottom string and basses - watch out for that

Bridgehouse

Simon_M said:

I asked a similar question a while ago and the general answer was Snark. I bought one and have used it on guitar and bass and think it’s great. 

There seems to be a few different ones - do you know which one you use?

Bridgehouse

thermionic said:

I've just tried my Polytune on a guitar now, playing up and down the frets and it seems pretty damn quick. Also very bright, and automatically flips the display if it's upside down. If it's too far away on the headstock it even works on the strap button! I haven't tried any others though, so I can't compare.

Thanks! Useful info that..

Bridgehouse

ToneControl said:

I have 2 Snarks
they are very easy to use, but not very accurate

I find the upmarket Korg ones are the best
The ones with AA batteries are less annoying for battery life

Some tuners are not very accurate on the bottom string and basses - watch out for that

This appears to be the issue with my cheapie reverb one!

brooom

tc electronics ought to be the best. My snark has been going strong for well over 7 years now. However it's not the best or most accurate one.

KKJale

The tc Unitune is fab. Great on bass too. 

The tc Polytune works just as well, but the poly, er, tune function is a bit unnecessary really. 

Bridgehouse

KKJale said:

The tc Unitune is fab. Great on bass too. 

The tc Polytune works just as well, but the poly, er, tune function is a bit unnecessary really. 

I dunno, if I had 2 extra hands...

Wazmeister

The best, and Ive tried and owned em all, is the Peterson clip on. Imho etc etc

Bridgehouse

Wazmeister said:

The best, and Ive tried and owned em all, is the Peterson clip on. Imho etc etc

Ah I forgot about that one... hmmm....

bbill335

Korg griptune is teeny tiny and better than the 3 snarks I've had, which tend to go a bit dopey after a bit.

WezV

Wazmeister said:

The best, and Ive tried and owned em all, is the Peterson clip on. Imho etc etc

How to you find the tracking.

i have the stroboflip which is great for setting intonation and general tuning,  but I don’t think I would want to use it for assessing fretless playing.  it’s just too sensitive 

Bridgehouse

WezV said:

Wazmeister said:

The best, and Ive tried and owned em all, is the Peterson clip on. Imho etc etc

How to you find the tracking.

i have the stroboflip which is great for setting intonation and general tuning,  but I don’t think I would want to use it for assessing fretless playing.  it’s just too sensitive 

Unlike my playing...

thegummy

The Polytune is pretty much as good as it could be - I can't think of anything that needs improved or added.

On the subject of clip-on tuners - has anyone experienced them affecting dead spots on guitars?

Teyeplayer

Just to reiterate: snark. Responsive and great value for money. 

CountryDave

Snark is good and quite cheap.
Polytune is great and not so cheap.
A mate has the Peterson which again isn’t cheap, but is very accurate, although how quick depends on how accurate you wish to be. My mate says it’s like playing a game trying to get all the whizzing dots to align. I settled for almost there when I tried it.

Moe_Zambeek

I have the TC and a snark. The snark is my general purpose music room one, the TC is the better of the two and goes with the Guitar in the case. 

I like strobe tuning so will probably get the Peterson next time Amazon or eBay have a blowout.

TheBigDipper

I've owned several red Snarks and been happy for as long as they worked. They seem to have a life of 1-2 years and one battery change. Got given a Fender tuner and actually prefer it, so I'll look for another when it fails.