Tuning pedal pros and cons?
StuffnJunk
Posts: 896
my band mate is always on my case to get a tuning pedal....i know that every pedal you have cuts down on the overall signal, so i don't want anything unnecessary in there
then again, it could help avoid catastrophe during a live show if my guitar gets knocked out of tune
but, that is why i always have a backup guitar tuned up and ready to go....what are the odds of having two guitars go out of tune during a 45 minute set??
then again, it could help avoid catastrophe during a live show if my guitar gets knocked out of tune
but, that is why i always have a backup guitar tuned up and ready to go....what are the odds of having two guitars go out of tune during a 45 minute set??
"I'll tell you what: If all I had was Pearl Jam, and I didn't have another band in the world, I would not be worried. Because in there is the essence of making great music. You don't have to use it all at once, but it's there." - Neil Young
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
by the way, how can i Facebook you if i don't know your real name?
no it's not.
*however* it has a pretty good buffered bypass that, when placed at the end of a pedal chain, can sort of be an aid in the whole long-pedal-chain-long cable-signal quality thing.
i keep mine out of the way by running it from the tuning output on a volume pedal at the front of my chain.
Nothing sucks more than playing a tune with someone who's out of tune - why doesn't it drive everyone nuts?
No BOSS pedal is True Bypass, they are all buffered (unless it's been modded), but about 90% of the musicians
out there have a TU2 on their pedalboard - myself included. In many cases a buffered pedal is better than True
Bypass. I actually have a Buffered OD Pedal near the start of my board because it buffers all the true bypass
pedals after it. Check this out: http://www.petecornish.co.uk/case_against_true_bypass.html
Yes, Pete Cornish is the guy that did David Gilmours Pedalboard (and still does his stuff). He's done pedalboards
for Any Summers (Police). Man, here's his client list, it's huge: http://www.petecornish.co.uk/client.html
Here's his main page: http://www.petecornish.co.uk/
<b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
Also, I thought it was 'true bypass' (we had a discussion a while back about how deceiving that saying can be with pedals today). I retract my statement.
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
Edit: My 1000th post. I need to play more.
7/9/06 LA 1
7/10/06 LA 2
10/21/06 Bridge 1
aahhh, i guess i should get one
There is always lots of talk about true-bypass vs buffered, but buffering has a purpose. Without being an electronics guy, I can predict that it serves to manitin signal integrity, and to reduce popping during switch changes.
Most signal degradation is due to the nature of teh effect.
Wah , for example, is a moving frequency filter, so of course there is frequency loss, that's what it is designed to do. Frequecny loss translates to SPL reduction and therefore "tone suck". A passive pedal like a tuner won't do that.
I think all this stems from my time in Music School - I once had 20 points taken off of one of my Classical JURY performances because
I had one string fall slightly out of tune - Unfortunately most higher end classical guitars tend to fall out of tune quite easily from temp
or humidity changes (typically because of the solid wood). I tuned my guitar in the rehearsal room and walked 15-steps (quite literally
15-steps) over to the JURY room - Unfortunately my guitar went slightly out of tune changing rooms, and it basically cost me 2-grades
because I didn't check it once I got in there - my G-string slightly fell out of tune, and one of the jurors heard it, and marked me off for
it (jurors are instructors evaluating your performance) - in the end the best grade I could get was a C, and the juror commented on my
evaluation sheet "tune your guitar next time!". Since then making sure "everyone is in tune" has been one of my big pet-peeves
Cheers . . .
- Ian
BTW - I agree, tuners are one of the most important pedals to have - get a tuner!
<b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
<b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
There's no point have a great sound if your out of tune.
Bands tuning up off each other on stage sounds terrible. Get one now.
The tuner is an essential item if you want to play music in a band!
It doesn't matter how beautiful the tone is when you've crafted your thousands of dollars of amp and pedal and guitar chain. It all sounds horrible when you're just a bit out of tune. Even if you have a great ear for tune, you can't always tell on stage with all the other noise going on and the tuner won't mislead you.
The Tu-2 is an all around good pedal. I used to keep it off the loop like Exhausted says, but now I have it right in line because I bend strings kind of hard and blip out of tune a lot, so I can even mute and retune a string in the middle of a song if I really need it. I've been playing some funky old Guyatone guitars and they need tuning all the time. I usually tune up between each song, especially with a tremolo guitar. Guitars get knocked out of tune all the time on stage. If a spotlight hits you, the strings warm up and change pitch. If you're outside, and a cool breeze blows, or the sun hits you, ,,,out of tune.
It also has a power out that can power other pedals on your board, too.
Disadvantage is that it doesn't have an internal mike, so if you have an acoustic guitar with no pickup, you can't tune that but you can get a cheapo Korg for like 15 dollars for that.
Any tuner pedal you get should have a bright readout, too. If it's a faint LED light, and the lights are on you, or the sun's shining, it's hard to see the readout.
Oh, and regarding overdrive after a buffered pedal. That can be true, especially with really sensitive overdrives. My TS-9 works fine after the TU-2 but my Ibanez Tube King is better before the pedal. I actually haven't figured out what I'm going to do with that lineup yet!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
__________________________________
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
http://guitargeek.com/rigs/img/p/pearljam_stone_1997.gif
-Reagan
Stone also has a guitar tech who tunes each guitar before handing it to him. As does Ed, Mike, and Jeff. If any of them has a guitar go out of tune, the tech can run out and hand them another guitar, even in mid-song. The rest of us, however... we gotta do our own leg work!
I figured I'd mention an alternative to the Boss TU-2:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=Korg+PitchBlack&st=
It has pretty much the same feature set as the TU-2. The one disadvantage: there's no un-muted tuning option (where you can hear the guitar as you tune). The advantages: It's a more accurate tuner, and it's true-bypass. I'm in need of a new tuner for my pedalboard, and the little Pitchblack is the tuner I'm planning on buying.
The only downside, is that at times it has a brain fart and just fritzes out, and I have to unplug it to re-boot it.
It's pretty though.
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
Peterson StroboStomp2 (it's one of the most accurate tuners I've ever used).
The Strobostomp is great, but it takes some getting used to (also works great
if you have Buzz Feiten installed on your axe). Unfortunately both of these
tuners are very difficult to read face up in direct sunlight. I haven't found a
similar tuner that's bright enough to be viewed in direct sunlight (I'm always
creating a shadow with my foot so that I can read mine . . . sucks hard).
- Ian
<b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
That's because, for years and years, the TU-2 was the only practical game in town. Then, slowly, other options emerged that were either less accurate and cheaper, or more accurate and WAAAY more expensive. Not to mention the TU-2 can power other pedals on your board. A lot of musicians got used to the TU-2 being the best tuner pedal for the money.
Korg tried the tuner pedal thing before, and lost. The Pitchblack really is a superior pedal to the TU-2, and it's currently priced $10 cheaper. But it has a lot of market bias to overcome.
JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
"Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy