Page 1 of 2

clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:22 pm
by PeteeBee
Do people like them? Do they replace my pedal tuner? Thoughts? Is it better to have a strap on or lay on the ground tuner? Mostly just curious if they are convenient or not. Most of my buds who use them do so on acoustic, which seem to stay in tune a lot better than my electrics.

I like the idea of them because the I can drop to a pedal train mini and that's cool, right? :idk: It's so hard to be trendy...

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:29 pm
by friendship
I've personally never had a good experience with one, glitchy sketchy tuning problems. I can tune faster with a pitchfork to be honest.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:37 pm
by cheesecats
they do the job when i play a gig unplugged with an acoustic. they're especially helpful when i capo.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:42 pm
by PeteeBee
How do they work when it's loud? I'm guessing I won't be able to tune through the bass blast section anymore.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 10:43 pm
by Gone Fission
I have some first gen Planet Waves/NS tuners that I find accurate enough for routine use and easy as hell to use on guitar and bass. I haven't tried to use them on a loud stage or in a practice room with other instruments rumbling, though.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:30 pm
by resincum
they're rad, but if your bassist likes to drone out in between songs while you're tuning, they are not so rad.


replaced my pedal tuner with one until I ran into that problem more than a few times.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 11:51 pm
by PeteeBee
Gotcha. For $4 they have to beat my tuner app that only does standard tuning...

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:24 am
by Ghost Hip
PeteeBee wrote:How do they work when it's loud? I'm guessing I won't be able to tune through the bass blast section anymore.
Clip on tuners like snarks and such actually tune by reading the vibrations through the headstock not by the soundwaves moving through the air. Ideally, you should be able to tune while your other bandmates are fucking around making noise.

To answer the original question... pedal tuner for sure.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:47 am
by voerking
they seem to vary in quality - even within the same brand. i have a Snark that i got in 2012 that has been with me through shows in 13 countries & countless practices. it's all i use - i've found it to be extremely accurate, and i've only had to replace the battery once. i've heard horror stories about the exact same model, though, so i think for ten bucks, or whatever, there isn't a lot of consistency in the manufacturing. :D i guess i got lucky & got a good one.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:33 am
by Jwar
Yea it's all vibration like Pumpkin said. I have on that I got from Reverb for free and it works as good on my bass as any other tuner I've ever used. I wouldn't want to use it all the time, but it really does do the job.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 11:55 am
by fcknoise
I have one that works really well. It's called a JHT nano strobe clip tuner. It's cheap and pretty accurate and haven't had any real problems so far. I don't have anyone droning out beside me when I tune though, so that's a potential issue.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 1:57 pm
by ChetMagongalo
I think there's a lot of inconsistency based on where you place it on your guitar and how resonant your guitar is. if you can get one for less than $10 though I think it's worth it. I probably wouldn't rely on it in a live situation though. my biggest qualm is they use those small round batteries which are somewhat harder to find in stores

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:20 pm
by hbombgraphics
PeteeBee wrote:How do they work when it's loud? I'm guessing I won't be able to tune through the bass blast section anymore.

They work like shit when it's loud
since they pickup all sorts of vibrations

Tuning near a full on organ once taught me that
I just gave up

They are nice for warming up tuning
Useless live from what I have experienced

Just get a pitchfactor = it has a tuner

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:54 pm
by Rob Fossil
PeteeBee wrote:Thoughts? Is it better to have a strap on?
Never go anywhere without your strapon :thumb:

Seriously, I only use a clip-on tuner at home. At band practice or gigging, having the option to silent tune and have the tuner act as a kill switch for your rig is worth the extra $$$.

Re: clip on tuners

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:33 pm
by ryan summit
recently got the kork pitchclip for my acoustic
it kinda blows
wierdest thing happened
its got a basic LED readout for notes
and red LEDs in an arc above you know basic tuner
so i turn it on the other day
the LED readout is flipped over now
so the note letters are upside down
read correct, korg is upside down and arc on bottom
besides that anomoly its not consistant
had a cheap fender one that worked OK
better than an iphone tuner app for sure
but kinda sucks for electric