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My Favorite Pedal Tuner For Guitar (2019)

I have used quite a few guitar pedal tuners over my 20 years of playing - from the DOD Tuna Pedal, to the Boss TU series tuners, to the Snark tuner pedal, but I gave up my search upon discovering the T.C. Electronic Polytune Series. Why? I’m glad you asked, dear reader.

The DOD Tuna pedal was the first pedal I owned (also one of the first tuner pedals ever made), but while it mostly did the trick, it was never y’know...good. It had a serious fatal flaw - what I’ll call “resonant confusion”. If you play an open note on your guitar, other strings will vibrate in response, and sensitive tuners often pick up these notes as well. My friend Brian had a similar problem with his rackmount tuner and he told me to switch it to my neck pickup and role the tone all the way off when tuning sort of desensitize the tuner and avoid picking up too many resonant frequencies. This also prevents the tuner from picking up too many overtones on the low notes. What a pain though! Every time I tuned, I had to switch to my neck pickup and roll off the knob. Thankfully, tuner pedal technology has advanced beyond the Tuna Pedal.

The Boss TU series was a big leap forward from the Tuna, in that it filters out the resonances more cleanly and gives you an accurate reading. I have used them before and I’ll say that they’re light years ahead of the Tuna Pedal. They filter out the resonances and respond very quickly when you play a note - especially the newest iteration - the TU-3. You can find a brand new TU-3 on Amazon for about $100. 

While the TU-3 is great, there are lower cost models that do about the same thing. The Snark SN10s cost about half as much. They’re cool tuners, and I really like the simple, bold graphic display. Check out Snark Tuners on Amazon. 

What sets the TC Electronic PolyTune apart from the competition is the way it aggressively attacks the issue of resonant confusion. While the PolyTune can function like the TU-3 and Snark - tuning one note at the same time - it also has a “poly mode” where you can strum all of your open strings at the same time and see which ones are in or out. The PolyTune can hear the strings all together and compare them with each other - sort of like how a musician can tell whether a G chord is in or out of key. Since I started using the PolyTune, tuning isn’t the chore it used to be. I can just plug in, strum my guitar and see which strings are “out” immediately. It costs about the same as as the TU-3, but the polytune feature is so cool and useful, that it’s worth the extra investment vs. the Snark. You can get the PolyTune 3 on Amazon for about $100. 

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I did this recording for the band Hi Viz. Mixed/Mastered by Kevin Nettleingham.

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I did this recording for the band Boston T. Rex. Mixed/Mastered by Asbridge Audio.

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I did this recording for the band Hi Viz. Mixed/Mastered by Kevin Nettleingham.

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I did this recording for the band Stepper. Mixed/mastered by Chris Finster.

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I did this recording for the band Hi Viz. https://hivizmusic.com/