clip on tuners

[JH Murray]

My red Snark broke at the joint about a week after I bought it. It is a weak point in the design. Duct tape holds it perfectly in place and it works really well.

[mandobassman]

[/I]...the fact that I wasn't able to place the mini-tuner right behind the nut as I have done before on my other mandolin. It just wouldn't work at this spot like it should, plus I had to clamp it over the truss-rod cover, which may have affected the way it picked up the signal. I did place it on the headstock at the end, and while it was better, it still read enough of a difference over the Snark that I don't feel like I can trust it 100% of the time. Jeff

A good tuner should work just about anywhere. I read in a interview with Brian Sutton that he puts his on his guitar strap because it's closer and he can see it better. I tried it on my guitar and, sure enough, it works. I can't do that with my mandolin because I use a shoelace for a strap and the tuner would flop all over.

I have read many people's responses about Snark and, while they are fast to respond, they just run through batteries too fast for me and the fact that one of the two I bought broke within a week of buying it has turned me off to using them. I don't want to be onstage and have the battery die just when I need it. Plus, I just can't see it at all outside.

A friend of mine borrowed my mandolin last week to do some recording and when he returned it, he had left his Peterson strobe in my case. A few days later I tried it out on a outside gig. I have to say, while $75 my be a lot for a clip-on tuner, it worked beautifully and I could easily see the display outside. I may need to get one of these. Meanwhile, my Intelli-500 is doing the job just fine.

[shortymack]

I have had my blue snark for over a year, same battery that came with it, works like a charm on both guitar and mando. Amazing really considering I got it for around 8 bucks. I read of a mod with a zip tie for the base, but I havent had any issues with mine.

[michaelpthompson]

+1 for the Planet Waves Mini. A really handy piece of gear, because you can leave it on your head stock all the time and people will hardly notice. It has a great display and is absolutely as accurate as a tuner needs to be for performance.

I agree. The Planet Waves NS mini stays on my headstock all the time and performs well in noisy situations. I do fine tune by ear if possible, but in general, this tuner gets me set up right.

[Steve L]

I'm wondering if the folks who have the experience of haveing the Snark batteries run down leave them on while they're on the headstock. I turn mine off as soon as I tune and I get a year or better out of mine and I use them a lot.

[rb3868]

I just got the (new?) Snark SN8 "Super Tight" tuner for around $12. couldn't be happier with it.

[blauserk]

I turn mine off as soon as I tune and I get a year or better out of mine and I use them a lot.

My experience also. I've never had the battery run out on one before I broke the little cup that holds the tuner to the stem. (My current one, which is red, I just glued back on and it continues to work well.)

I'd love to try the Peterson, though, because I'm picky about tuning and find I usually have to tune the second string in the course by ear at the end once the Snark has gotten me there on the first string.

[AlanN]

I just got the (new?) Snark SN8 "Super Tight" tuner for around $12. couldn't be happier with it.

Same here. It's dreamy.

[Alyx Hanson]

+1 for the red Snark. I'm actually looking at getting a second one for my uke so I don't have to keep switching the tuner between gig bags.

[MnRoss]

I love my Planet Waves Mini. Tunes find for me and it stays on my head stock in the case or while playing plus it's small and doesn't stick out. Bought it after my Red Snark broke in Aug. the 2nd one I've had break, My wife broke the 1st one I owned. I never use it to set intonation anyway nor did I use the Snark for that. Neither are as good as a strobe Peterson for setting intonation right I feel. If you haven't seen one here is the link.

http://www.planetwaves.com/pwProduct...eadstock_Tuner

Just my opinion... Folks

[Randy Smith]

Because my experience has been that any clip on puts me in tune--or gives me a good spot to finish tuning by ear--I'm at the spot of choosing a tuner only because I like how it fits in my case. I've got a Tune Tech 501 in each of two old shaped Gibson cases. A Tune Tech 1 is in a TKL fiddle case because it's small enough to fit nicely in a little compartment. In a nice, larger fiddle case I've got a red Snark, which is the first of three that hasn't broken at the joint. The Snark is a wonderful tuner but should hold up without my having to repair it after two weeks. I love how it works but find the others tune and fit very well.

[Cron-Z]

I'm wondering if the folks who have the experience of haveing the Snark batteries run down leave them on while they're on the headstock. I turn mine off as soon as I tune and I get a year or better out of mine and I use them a lot.

I've read online, at some point, that if you leave it on Mic mode, it's always listening for a tone even if you press the button to turn it off. I don't know how true this is, but it could be something to note for those who run through batteries like water.

[azflyman]

My eight year old Intelli IMT500. Don't ask me why it works so well. I've gone through a few batteries. We checked it with a Peterson and spot on. Go figure. Have another old one with no more light but it works great. I see Ricky Skaggs has one and Rolland White as well. Don't know if they still make them. I read bad reviews but still...go figure.

^^^ This, and mine is spot on as well ^^^

[Jim Ferguson]

Snark......love it.

[Tim Pike]

Another vote for Snark (have 2 of 'em).

[RobP]

I have been using the Intelli mt500 for ages. They are still available according to Amazon. Are the snark and planet waves smaller or have other advantages?

Rob

[Baboon]

I used to use clip-ons, but I've found that my iPhone is a better tuner. I use the Guitar Toolkit app. Everyone I've shown this to has stopped using other tuners.

[doc holiday]

the Planet Waves is the smallest & most unintrusive one. I can clip it between the nut and the first tuning machine on my Ellis. The Snark seems to read faster to me. The Peterson strobe clip on is deadly accurate, but I don't find it very user friendly with all the visual movement, and the neck joint is fragile.

[Jim Garber]

I like the Snarks and loves my red one until the ball joint broke. Once it is broken it is useless. I tried to glue the small piece that broke off with epoxy but it just came apart again. Luckily I had bought a black one but I am not so sure that this model is built any stronger.

[Brad Maestas]

I had the first Intellitouch and it did well with guitars but wasn't so great on my mandos. After it gave up the ghost last year I got the Korg AW-2. It is just okay. It looks nice and is reasonably accurate. It makes way more sense if you switch it to affix to the straight side of the clamp instead of the angled side. It isn't as accurate as I need it to be on my mandolin but it works just fine on my guitar. One nice feature is the ability to switch between mic and piezo inputs.

I bought the Peterson after a month or so and the Korg really doesn't compare. The build quality on the Peterson is pretty impressive. The front and back face are metal and if Peterson's ad literature is to believed, there is some carbon fiber in there somewhere as well. The unit has substantial weight but not so much that you'd notice on your instrument, unless it is very lightly built. Using the mandolin sweetener preset, it gets my mando perfectly in tune all over the neck. Even without the 'sustain' mode enabled, it out-tracks and holds the measurement longer than the Korg by a mile. The high E strings in particular gave the Korg a hard time but the Peterson tracks them without any trouble.

Of course, the Peterson works very well with many other instruments. I tested it out on my classical which has a B string with a propensity for playing sharp on the neck, especially in the lower positions. The regular guitar sweetener preset on my old VS-1 would tune the open B correctly and I got in the habit of tuning it slightly flat so it would play in tune all the way up the neck. Then I even made my own preset so I wouldn't have to bother with it. The StroboClip with its improved sweetening curves managed to get everything harmonious without any extra effort which was much appreciated.

Needless to say, I'm very impressed with it and it goes with me everywhere!

[mandolirius]

Snark......love it.

Hate it. Useless outside and "on" button isn't recessed so it is easily turned on accidentally. Wouldn't be a big a deal but Snark has no automatic shutoff.

[allenhopkins]

Hate it...Snark has no automatic shutoff.

According to the red Snark manual:
Power Save Feature
The tuner display will dim after approximately 10 seconds of no sound detected by the tuner. This conserves battery power. The display will return to normal brightness when a note is detected. If no notes are detected for 2 minutes, the tuner will shut off.

[padawan]

I use a black Snark with no mike to get muddled by outside noise (like the wife using her red Snark to "fiddle" with her violin's tuning).
I have a couple of other tuners that I purchased for my guitar over the years but the Snark is the only one that fits in the compartment in my Mando's hard case so its usually the closest at hand when I'm ready to practice.

[almeriastrings]

I've been using the Snarks, and they are very good. I have had one break, however, and they do seem heavy on batteries (I do turn 'em off!). Last week I picked up ($15 new in a closeout) an Intellitouch PT-20. Seems a bit stronger and very easy to read. Accurate, too. We'll see how it goes....

[Ivan Kelsall]

I've used the Intelli IMT500 for around 4 years. I've found them fairly ok in day to day use in spite of the fact that it gets confused between the G & D notes most of the time. One thing it simply won't do,is respond to a newly strung string ie.a string which is well below pitch. I bought a Red Snark a few months back,& that responds to almost any note.I still carry around an Intelli in each of my cases,but the Snark is a 'better' tuner for my purposes. Possibly the best tuner i've ever used,is the Intelli IMT103 tuner used with the Intelli IMP100 clip on transducer.You can clip the transducer right onto the bridge.The only problem is with the IMP100 cord,i've had 2 & both frayed at the clip end making them useless,so i wouldn't recommend them despite their effectivity,
Ivan