But, of course, things are not that clear-cut. You may be someone who needs a tuner for stage use, in such cases, something like a Boss TU-3 is the best guitar tuner to buy. As a brand, Boss is very respected, and many of the professional guitar players have used their tuners (and other pedals for that fact). Compared to the StroboClip, which is a clip-on tuner, the Boss TU-3 is a plug-in tuner. Meaning, you plug your guitar straight into it, so it’s perfect for electric guitar players. Then there is your playing style. The harder you hit the strings, the more you will pop in and out of tune. You can see this whenever you play a string through a tuner, whenever you play a note it goes sharp before returning to pitch. To see how StroboClip compares to these tuners in real-time see Snark ST-8 vs Peterson StroboClip vs GuitarTuna (android) vs TB Strobe Tuner on YouTube. Verdict Pros TC Electronic turned heads (and ears) when it unveiled its PolyTune pedal in 2010, five years later the Clip continued that good work and it remains a popular option for players with impressive +/- 0.02 cents accuracy in strobe mode and 0.5 cents in chromatic mode.

You use the same button for On/Off and to access the menu. Long press for turning the tuner off sometimes feels tedious. There isn’t that much to say about the TU-3 except that most everyone who plays the guitar has either this or the older model. While there are more accurate tuners out there, filled with way more features, this is a workhorse – bare bone tuner that will serve you for years to come. Overview: The display is clear and the interface allows a very exact method of achieving correct pitch. This is in contrast to the usual digital tuners which can be annoying to use. I've used ones in the past where there is a long delay between sound input and the displayed pitch and also ones that really only tune approximately to a true pitch. This tuner is better than any I have used previously, and allows you to get very precise tunings. This is a really nice tuner with a lot of great features. The different tuning profiles are very useful and it is a very nice size to fit most stringed instruments both acoustic and electric, e.g mandolin, ukulele, guitar, bass. I have used it on acoustic and electric guitars. The menus on the Peterson StroboClip are very straightforward. While the tuner on, you tap the middle button and you’re in a menu that Peterson calls “sweetened tunings”. In short, these are presets for popular alternative tunings.As the name suggests, the StroboClip HD has an ergonomic bright high-definition screen. This allows you to easily see the tuner on even the darkest and murkiest of stages, and ensure that your instrument is perfectly in tune. For such a low price it’s hard to find something worth complaining about the Snark ST-8. Yeah, it’s all cheap plastic, but it’s not like we expected aluminum casing at this price point anyways.

First worth mentioning is what Peterson calls “Sweetened” tunings. These are presets which alter the standard tuning to make your guitar sound better – at least according to Peterson. Included are also the Buzz Feiten tuning, as well as other non-standard tunings such as Drop D, DADGAD, etc.These custom modes are what Peterson calls “Sweetened Tunings”. In short, they are slight modifications to the standard guitar tuning (like the Buzz Feiten tuning system). There are modes for 6 string guitars, basses, 12-string guitars, lap steel, as well as violins and violas. A few of these are also uncharacteristic tunings used in other parts of the world, which is an option that’s nice to have. The TC Electronic Polytune is as straightforward as a guitar pedal can be. You press the switch with your foot, pedal mutes the guitar sound, and you turn the tuning pegs until the green line hits 90 degrees. You of course power it with either a power adapter, or a 9V battery, and it will not mess with your guitar sound since it features true-bypass switching. That’s easy – because you are not a sadist and you wish to keep your bandmates and audience sane! There’s nothing worse than an out-of-tune guitar, or indeed the sound of a guitar tuning up.