How Much Difference Does A Strobe Tuner Make? Peterson Strobo Clip HD Review

[@phildavis1282]

It whoud have been interesting to see the tuning with both on the guitar at the same time 👍

[@hgostos]

That has been my experience too. Well worth the extra money. I love the sweetened mode too. One extra piece of information is that using the Peterson to intonate the guitar is so important. Nothing worse than a guitar with intonation that is slightly out. It sounds wrong and unsatisfying and you can't pinpoint where the problem lies.

[@PaulCooksStuff]

I had a very similar experience. I used to use a snark, or several different free phone apps. With hindsight they all had a kind of broader plateau that they considered "in tune". The Peterson honed that plateau to a narrower peak. To my mind, if you start from closer to in-tune, the tuning has to drift "out" further before it starts to noticeably sound odd. That twilight zone where other tuners tell you it's still bob on. It's a small comfort factor, and long term less wasted time. It also taught me the phone apps were generally out by quite a wide margin on fat strings - though that could be a peculiarity of my phone mic bass response.

[@Chinaguitarsceptic]

Love my Peterstone tuner

[@Stratboy999]

I have received the exact same tuner from my mate for christmas. I do already have another Strobe tuner, but always nice to have a spare. I previously used the strobe tuner to adjust intonation, which can be a bit tricky using just a regular one.

[@5150show]

I was always interested in this tuner , thanks John

[@PeterWasted]

I use a TC Electronic clip-on tuner and find it more accurate than any number of lower cost clip-ons I've used previously. A word of caution about using clip-on tuners for setting intonation. My experience is the harmonic vibrations in the neck can interfere. I have had better results using a plug-in tuner. I have an old analogue Korg and a Boss TU-3 both seem very capable.

[@tomlittle1125]

John, when you are 70 and wear hearing aids, near enough is good enough. I use a Snark and its fine for me. Love your vids, thanks for them all.

[@mandolinic]

Sort of, but you should also consider the sensibilities of the audience. My Snark tuner was telling me that my mandolin intonation was out from about the 8th fret or so (but it sounded ok to me). My new Peterson clip on tuner told me that the intonation was exactly correct! And using the "sweetened" mandolin tuning, the whole instrument sounds, er, sweeter 🙂 It's the best £60 I've ever spent.

[@michalkysel4351]

I totally agree with you, John. I bought Peterson StroboClip HD, and my Les Paul type guitar was never as in tune, as now. Precision of tuning is really great, and each chord sounding in tune, in each variation. Especially with “sweetened” tuning preset, which adding some offsets to each string, for compensating of enharmonicity. I recommend this tuner to each player, who think seriously about guitar playing. I know, it is a little pricey - but definitely this investment is worth!

[@blackforestghost1]

WHY didn`t you just put BOTH tuners on the headstock side by side, so that we can see simultaneously the difference, if there is any significant. That would have been interesting to watch and would have proven something.

[@JRobsonGuitar]

You're right. I should have done that. I will definitely do this in an upcoming video.

[@nevada150]

Been using mine for a couple of years John, also on my Fender D8 Stringmaster steel guitar. It’s very accurate and also has built in “Sweetened” tunings for many instruments, not just guitars. Keith.

[@ubellubo]

I just bought this Petersen clip on tuner the other day. It is great. Super accurate, with an easy to read, large, bright display and easier to use than I was expecting, given that is a strobe tuner.

[@RocktCityTim]

I've been addicted to the Strobotuner class of tuners since 1969 when I started playing clarinet and we used a big shelf unit to tune the entire 214 piece marching band. Completely missed the release of this. Off to the wilds of the great Amazon to find one.

[@MyJ2B]

Wonderful summary as a "consumer's report " of 2 products with different internal tuning physics principles. Thank you!

[@RaymondLandis]

I just got a couple of these from Sweetwater and started using them... They seem really good... Thanks for the review, it clears up any questions I may have had... Stay blessed!

[@jonvee7014]

Just got one…it’s awesome

[@derekclacton]

John, could you do a comparison between the strobe and an ‘equivalent’ (price / quality) pedal tuner e.g. tc electronics or BOSS?

[@Dave-nh8iv]

I prefer tuners that show +/- cents, as it's easier to spread out the unison strings on a 12-string guitar to make it sounder wider for a more natural chorus effect.

[@PeteAxeShields]

What a brilliant, and extremely useful video John. So glad the purchase worked out for you. Yeah, we all have those moments when we have just tuned up then we are left wondering why we are still sounding a wee bit out. I recently bought a fantastic little ( cheap as chips ) Lekato looper pedal which has a built in tuner and it seems to be very accurate ( at least I am also having less of those moments when I feel I am a tad out of tune ) It is now the first pedal on my pedal board for that reason :-) probably not as accurate as the strobe tuner though !

[@iannicholls7476]

It is pricey but I’ve been very pleased with mine since I got it. When I use the sweetened tuning (as Peterson call it) for my acoustic it sounds especially lush. It’s only my ears and I’ve got no evidence of how much more it’s in tune but it sounds good to me.

[@kenbrown5449]

Thanks for the video. Answered my question!

[@PooNinja]

I’ve got a poly tune clip but the Peterson is the pinnacle of tuners 🤘🏽

[@sledge1960]

I play Pedal Steel Guitar John, we have to tune the open strings using the machine heads and then we tune the Pedals and Levers independently using nylon pegs on the other sde of the instrument, it is a real precision exercise. The strobe is necessary for any serious PSG player to get perfect pitch all round, we all use a Peterson. When I change over to six string guitar the strobe is set aside, when you only have machine heads which are well within reach a Snark does the ticket when you hear an inaccuracy in pitch.

[@johnmac8084]

Interesting John, I had been wondering whether those were worth the extra dosh

[@Bettys_Eldest]

Interesting, as I have never used a strobe tuner or seen one in operation. However, whilst I believe that it is a reasonable assumption, I don't think that it is fair to say that you have proved that the strobe tuner is more accurate just because they give different results. You have demonstrated that they don't give the same results. Proof that one was more accurate than the other requires comparison against a tuner which is accepted as accurate. Given that my favourite guitars have three saddles or a wrapover bridge, I don't think that I will worry too much.

[@PaulCooksStuff]

It would be easy to do. Put the d'addario tuner back on after the Peterson has refined the initial d'addario tuning. The d'addario will still say in-tune, simply because it's tolerance for what it considers in-tune is much wider than the strobes tolerance. I've done this with snark tuners.

[@davidc1334]

When I compared it to others I put the other tuner back on and it will still read as in tuned. So yes the peterson is a much better tuner. I did this with polytune and roadie 3

[@hekakain4108]

They say to use your thumb or finger to tune with your strobe tuner... Subbed...

[@andyt5559]

I could never figure out how they worked could see the notes but those spinning things? so the explanation, along with the demo works for me! I just got a new guitar a Cort G290 FAT, in violin burst, the new ones come with roasted maple and stainless frets this is the older version with bird's-eye maple neck and board, that's the surprise, my 1st electric had a maple neck and I hated it, got a 2nd hand Yamaha SG 200 with a rosewood board and never went back! every guitar was rosewood with an occasional ebony! it was strung with 9's but looked amazing but that board, an it's got such a thin finish on it, added a trem spring and added 10's and after a lot of faffing about adjusting the trem claw and tuning string stretching and retuning! the damn thing went into tune played an adjust here and there, and it plays like a dream satin neck 2 humbuckers and a five way switch s bridge, inner coils, both, outer coils and neck have you reviewed 1???

[@PeteEllson5656]

Thanks for doing this video.

[@TheTimeProphet]

I have mainly used a Stage tuner which you plug the guitar into for years. Now I use the tuner built into the Pod Go. Surely if you have an electric guitar you will get a more accurate reading by plugging your guitar into a tuner, rather than it picking up the vibrations off your guitar. You need to do a tuner shootout between a plugin stage tuner and a stock tuner.

[@PaulCooksStuff]

Peterson do both. I can't imagine they haven't compared them - it's their reputation on the line.

[@bill29-g3b]

Strobe tuners make all the difference when intonating. Thank you for the info.

[@davelewis4215]

I bought a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner last year and it is a very accurate tuner. I have a Boss pedal tuner and it’s Behringer clone which are both excellent and a brilliant Harley Benton rack mount tuner which gives you strob and none strob options. Plus a few good headstock clip on tuners that don’t get used because batteries ran out ages ago.🤣 I still find myself using the free Fender & Boss tuner apps on my iPad though.

[@VicMorrowind]

I just want to be able to select standard tune or drop d, etc. Can this tuner do that?

[@JRobsonGuitar]

I believe so 👍

[@PNWJEEPER01]

These are great tuners. I've been using them for 6 or 7 years at gigs and on the road. The display is comparable to other tuners as far as visibility, but the information it gives you is far more precise (I don't think accurate is quite the right word) and tend to be less affected by ambient noise. Think of a Snark or any dot style display as a ruler that has a 16th of an inch as its smallest unit of measurement, while a Peterson goes all the way down to a 64th. Both are equally accurate but one is simply able to provide far more precise information. The sweetened tunings are not really for the hobby guitarist who just plays at home, but are great if you're recording a studio track in a problem key for your instrument (usually low fret open chord keys) or using an instrument live for one single song in a particular key.

[@Barbarapape]

I have a TC Electronics Polytune 3 strobe tuner that has true bypass and it is left connected to my Vox VT4X amp, i found it a bit tricky to get used to, but it proved that the cheap clip-on tuners are not the best way to obtain accurate tuning. They may be great for acoustics, but not so good for electrics, you need to tune the signal that the pickups output, not the vibration at the headstock.

[@michaelbelliveau8755]

Great something else to buy...I gotta go get workin on some browny points..

[@fredgibson7995]

What is your opinion on compensated tuning?

[@JRobsonGuitar]

Never used it, mate.

[@chaipup7045]

It's an extremely accurate tuner, well worth the extra cost.

[@Gibson1976uk]

I went with the waza tuner, it does what it says on the tin :) I feel the boss will out live the fancy stuff

[@DennisRichardH]

Jus' bought one, testing all those sweeteners. If they work, I might try them with my wife. ; )

[@Nizodizo]

How do you know if they work correctly?

[@JRobsonGuitar]

I can hear when things are out of tune. My old tuner would say all was good, but my ears told me otherwise. Not so with this one.

[@davidrjbrown8808]

I use TunerTime, an fft based strobe type tuner. Its free. Instead of a rotating wheel, you aim for horizontal bars. Not for beginners. It lets you see what's really going on. A plucked note drops in pitch after the initial attack, so you have to use your judgement, whatever tuner you use.

[@garethpoole1645]

@David RJ Brown, good point mate re: that initial attack, I'm never really bothered by a momentary 'overshoot' and can't tell the difference. I used to be really anal about hitting the note exactly until I found I saved a lot of time in accepting the transients and some low level experimentation has proved that allowing them is quite acceptable, particularly in the environmental conditions I use to gig in 😄

[@RBFR01]

I think all guitar players should know how to intinate and set up their guitars to how they like them. Spending money on one of or the best strobe tuner you can get is really important for intonation and setting the guitar up overall.

[@calebmarcus4456]

Very great review! They should have sponsored this video because I will be getting one for myself thanks for the information!

[@kerrybishop3563]

Love mine!

[@RF944]

I have three different tuners and none of them quite agree with each other. If I jam with someone, I'd just pick one tuner to use.

[@astapovich940]

Same. 2 apps, Boss JS 10 has digital built in. Fender clip on. Joyo petal tuner/ buffer. All different. Wtf

[@donalgodon]

The sweetened tunings are worth the price on their own. Peterson is the best.

[@SimpleMan1988]

I just got a Peterson Strobe tuner online. I downloaded it for $4.99 usd

[@maidenman74]

Using a Gibson to demonstrate tuning accuracy!!! Thats quite funny. I have a few Gibsons, I Know!

[@jasper_north]

E -12cts A -10cts D -8cts G -4cts B -6cts e -3cts

[@Martin7182]

The difference doesn't prove anything usefull, although I'm willing to believe that it is indeed a better tuner.

[@johnlay3040]

Unless you are young and have very good ears, the Strobe clip-on tuner won't make much difference. I am old, and my ears are not that good anymore. I used to use KLIQ tuner, which had very good review at the time I bought it. It wasn't bad; I use it for a few years in combination with my standard tempering technique. However, it wasn't that satisfactory. It is ok up to say 7th position, after that it doesn't sound good anymore. But the Strobe changes all that. All my guitars sound like different guitars now. They give me a new perspective to my life. Playing is so much more enjoyable now.

[@jasonmcelveen6295]

Have one wouldn't use it at a jam, just for setup use. Its too slow to use live.

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

Tuning accuracy is a pointless quest. Look up temperament. A tuner is good when it is fast. Being rechargeable is another good feature.

[@michalkysel4351]

Not really - if tuner is fast, it cannot be precise. This is the physics - all traditional electronic tuners using principle of direct counting number of “cross though zero” in input signal. This measurement method is more precise, when this procedure is running longer time. So longer time, so less of measurement jitter. That is, why strobe tuners are precise - because they using different method. Strobe tuners measuring not directly frequency of tuned strings, but differential frequency between internal reference and measured signal. When this difference is near to zero, pattern is nearly not moving. This is the way, how to get high precision of measurement with extremely short reaction time.

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

@@michalkysel4351 Tuning accuracy is pointless. Your "accurately tuned" thirds are 15 cents off in equal temperament and no one cares.

[@ErikBrakkee]

I think rechargeable is not that good. My clip-on tuners usually die suddenly and then replacing the battery is a real quick solution. No need to wait for charging and these rechargeable batteries can wear out as well over time.

[@sid35gb]

Hmmm 🤔 I think I might give it a go and compare it to my polytune tuner from tc electronics I’ve got the clip on version and pedal.

[@johntate5050]

Hello David. What are your views on bumming? Just asking for a friend. Do you like pickled mussels? I haven't cut my toenails since 1971. They poked through my socks in the mid 1980s. They are now approximately 3 feet long. Shall I drive to your house this evening? I can take off my wellington boots and thrust my trotters in your face.

[@officialWWM]

Strobe tuners are only important if you want to play in tune 😂

[@cylonhibrid]

Tuning Fork and pitch pipes.🤣

[@glenmiles483]

Those rechargeable snarks are garbage.