The Best Guitar Tuner Download
Sixta Strissel
TC Electronic has really taken the fight to Boss when it comes to an industry standard tuner pedal. The PolyTune 3 has a sleek minimal design, impressively bright screen, and all the tuning features you could want in a tuner pedal.
This pedal sports True Bypass, meaning when it's off it won't influence your tone at all. You can also set the pedal to Buffered Bypass via 2 DIP-switches underneath the bottom plate (might be necessary if you have a super long cable between your guitar and first pedal, or you have a ton of pedals on your board). When the PolyTune 3 is on, the output is muted so you can tune up quietly.
Here's one of our favorite features - on the back is a micro USB port for firmware updates from TC Electronic. This isn't critically important, but it shows TC wants to make updates and improvements available for guitarists who make the investment in this pedal.
One of the biggest reasons to buy this pedal is the phenomenal display. It's big, bright, and in Needle mode it's super easy to tell when you're in tune (the needle does not bounce all over the place like in cheaper tuners). The display also adjusts its brightness depending on lighting conditions, which is awesome if you're gigging.
The marquee feature of the PolyTune line of tuners is polyphonic mode. This feature is automatically engaged when you strum all your strings at once. It analyzes all of them and shows you which of your strings are sharp, flat, or right on the mark all at the same time. While that sounds neat, in practice it's hit and miss. It might get you in the ballpark of accurate tuning but let's face it, if you're buying a tuner as good as this, you want to be as accurate as possible.
When it comes to the actual tuning experience, the Pitchblack really delivers. The display is awesome - big and bright, with 2 orange LED arrows guiding you. It's nice and crisp and not jumpy. The display doesn't adjust based on lighting conditions like the PolyTune, but you should have no trouble seeing it in most conditions. Also, it is a chromatic tuner so you can tune to all 12 semi-tones.
Bottom Line: Maybe we were expecting less since it costs less than a PolyTune or TU-3, but we were wrong to do so. We're pretty blown away at the quality of this thing (solid metal build, beautiful display, etc). The contenders have slightly more features like support for capo and drop tunings, polyphonic mode, adjustable brightness LED... but if you can live without those things the PitchBlack Advance is the highest quality bang for the buck pedal tuner we've encountered. The price is unbelievably low for a pedal of this caliber.
In 1998 Boss released the TU-2, which ended up being the top selling tuner of all time. With legendary Boss reliability and several different tuning modes for guitar and bass, the Boss TU-3 does everything the TU-2 did, only slightly better! Though that's not to say it's perfect...
Boss hasn't changed their 21-segment LED tuner display in ages and we can't help but feel it seems a bit dated compared to the bright big screens of the competitors. Not that it's hard to use - as you get closer to pitch you get indications with yellow arrows and red and green markers. There is also a High Brightness mode you can switch too (we kind of wish that was the default).
Bottom Line: The TU-3 is a stalwart tuner pedal for your guitar or bass. Honestly, we prefer the big bright LED screens the competitors offer, as the Boss interface can feel a bit cluttered to navigate and see from a distance. We also value a higher tuning accuracy and True Bypass, both of which the TU-3 lacks. That said, Boss tuners are found on more pro pedalboards than any other pedal in history. If you are partial to the Boss form factor or place indestructibility above all else, pick up a TU-3.
The Peterson StroboStomp HD was introduced in 2019 and immediately captured the attention of guitar players worldwide. The large bright display and sleek stainless-steel chassis feel like a breath of fresh air in a tuner pedal market that still has many of the same designs since the 1990s. The LCD w/ LED backlight screen is gorgeous, easy to read, and you can change the color to match ambient conditions or your personal preferences.
But the beauty of the StroboStomp HD is more than just what meets the eye. The ergonomics are well thought out. Menus and adjustments can be easily selected using the selector buttons located on the side of the pedal enclosure. And that is a great thing because the StroboStomp HD is the most customizable tuner on this list. Modes are easily selectable and tuning presets are a breeze to navigate and can even be grouped by custom display colors.
The ST-300 looks and feels rugged and utilitarian and sports a die-cast aluminum housing. It's certainly not as pretty as a PolyTune. It's True Bypass and has instrument input and output jacks on the sides (output is muted when the tuner is active). On the back there's a jack for a 9V DC power supply (not included), and a power output to daisy-chain other pedals and power them (current passed through the daisy chain should be limited to 2000 mA). There is also a micro USB port so you can customize tunings on your computer.
Accuracy is the name of the game with the ST-300, and you get +/- .02 cents accuracy which is phenomenal and about as good as it gets for a pedal tuner. The display is bright, with the LED pattern rotating to the right if you are sharp and left if you are flat. The strobe-style display might take a little getting used to. It's a bit disconcerting at first, since it's very difficult to get the rotating pattern to be stationary, which initially makes you think you're not in tune. However, we were told by both the folks at Sonic Research and the manual that so long as the pattern is moving slowly, you are within a fraction of a cent.
You can use the CAL button to change the 440 Hz reference frequency. This tuner is extremely customizable, and has support for multiple temperaments (equal, just, Pythagorean) and alternate tunings (chromatic, drop D, DADGAD, open A, open D, bass, bass drop D, 5 string bass, violin, cello & more). Making adjustments to the settings might take you a little time, as you have to press the mode buttons as the pedal is powering up and remember the correct sequence of button presses. Thankfully once you set it up how you want, it remembers your settings after you power it off.
If a clip-on guitar tuner is more of what you're looking for and you don't mind paying a little bit of a premium, the TC Electronic PolyTune Clip is an amazing tool. TC managed to pack every feature from their impressive pedal tuners into this little thing, and it works beautifully.
Bottom Line: The PolyTune Clip's only downside is the premium price tag; you could pick up a Korg Pitchblack for roughly the same. Impressively, almost every feature of the PolyTune 3 pedal is present in the Clip. If a clip-on is best for you, look no further. We think the TC Electronic PolyTune Clip is the best clip-on guitar tuner out there.
Bottom Line: Look, you can get 3 or 4 Snarks for the price of a PolyTune Clip, so it's silly to expect it to be the same quality. All in, the Snark gets the job done and even gives you some alternate tuning modes (and weirdly a silent tap tempo metronome). We would say the ST-8 is the best Snark clip-on tuner out there, and the one to go with if all you do is play your guitar or bass occasionally at home.
In the end, we tested 3 reputable apps: GuitarTuna (free), Fender Tune (free), and iStroboSoft (paid). With the limitations of a guitar tuner app - i.e. being limited to your acoustic instrument in a quiet space - it doesn't make sense to buy any overcomplicated or expensive app.
To that end, our choice is GuitarTuna, made by the folks behind Yousician. Fender Tune looks clean but we had some trouble picking up sound from plucking electric guitar strings. iStroboSoft is great, but honestly not worth the $10 price of admission if all you need is standard guitar tuning. GuitarTuna loads quickly and works flawlessly, even with the more quiet sound of an electric guitar unplugged.
Tuna uses your device's mic and even has noise cancellation technology to eliminate some background noise while you tune. This chromatic tuner supports loads of instruments from guitar to bass, ukulele and orchestra instruments.
Bottom Line: At the risk of oversimplifying, in the sea of guitar tuner apps go with a proven one that offers a free version, and paid upgrades if you want to get crazy with tunings. GuitarTuna has a beautiful design and simply works.
A guitar tuner simply compares the pitch of a single note you play on your guitar or bass to the reference pitch stored in the tuner, generally A440. The display then shows you if the string you are tuning is too low (flat) or too high (sharp).
PEDAL TUNERS go on the floor or your pedalboard. They work with electric instruments, and read the pitch based on the signal that comes from your guitar. They're great for playing live because of their durability. They are discreet and will mute the signal of your instrument when active. Pedal tuners are also generally more sophisticated and more accurate.
CLIP-ON TUNERS are clipped onto the headstock of your guitar, and they read the pitch of your instrument based on the vibrations that transfer there when you play. They are great if you play acoustic instruments, but we use ours with electric guitars all the time. Snark popularized these and you can pick up a Snark pretty dirt cheap.
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