mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini? (boring NPD)

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marqueemoon
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mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini? (boring NPD)

Post by marqueemoon » Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:31 pm

After a lot of hand wringing I've decided I want to stick with my Pedaltrain Nano + rather than size up. To fit the phaser I have planned I'll need to downsize my tuner. I'd really like something with an "always on" option as there will be times when I'll want to use an off board volume pedal (My VP doesn't have a tuner out), and just generally to check tuning when playing held notes, etc...

I like having a tuner on the floor and not a Snark, etc...The only one I'm aware of currently is the TC Polytune 3 Mini. There is that goofy Pedaltrain micro always on thing, but the consensus seems to be that it's junk, plus I won't always be using a VP (it will be later in the chain), so I'll still need to be able to mute via the tuner. when not using the VP.

Any ideas?
Last edited by marqueemoon on Wed May 12, 2021 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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jorri
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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by jorri » Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:22 am

I have the miniscule Hotone tuner.
Its on position is like a boost pedal from silent to a decent boost.
Its not a very nice boost sound when on though.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:01 am

jorri wrote:
Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:22 am
I have the miniscule Hotone tuner.
Its on position is like a boost pedal from silent to a decent boost.
Its not a very nice boost sound when on though.
Thanks. I have a boost I’m happy with already.

What I’m looking for is a mini tuner that can be set to have the display running all the time and only mute the guitar when the switch is stepped on.

My ideal tuner would be always on and mute the guitar with a *momentary* switch, but such a thing does not exist as far as I know.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:46 am

I have never used one - there’s a Polytune on my board and I have an old Boss TU-12 that I used forever - but I gave a tc electronic clip on tuner to my nephew last year. He was just getting started learning guitar so it was his 11th birthday present. He has been really happy with it.

Pros: It’s cheap and it always on. You can easily see it for held notes.

Cons: Clip on tuners aren’t very rock n roll. Clip on tuners won’t mute your guitar, you have to use your volume control for that.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detai ... src=aw.ds

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:09 pm

Not into the clip on thing at all.

I have the Boss and Peterson apps on my phone for clip-on type situations. For anyone on the fence I highly recommend the Peterson app.

For a band situation I need a tuner on the floor though.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by jorri » Sat May 01, 2021 3:38 am

marqueemoon wrote:
Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:01 am
jorri wrote:
Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:22 am
I have the miniscule Hotone tuner.
Its on position is like a boost pedal from silent to a decent boost.
Its not a very nice boost sound when on though.
Thanks. I have a boost I’m happy with already.

What I’m looking for is a mini tuner that can be set to have the display running all the time and only mute the guitar when the switch is stepped on.

My ideal tuner would be always on and mute the guitar with a *momentary* switch, but such a thing does not exist as far as I know.
Ah yes i misread the inverse. But only know of being able to select these things manually, or knob positioned for easy foot control, which the Hotone would do.
unless you used a "tuner out" method, with existing tuner(or smaller nonpedal tuner) and aby splitter that has some built in momentary function that you could easily solder in a different switch.
Or the Ernie Ball VP with built in tuner.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by marqueemoon » Sat May 01, 2021 8:34 am

jorri wrote:
Sat May 01, 2021 3:38 am
marqueemoon wrote:
Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:01 am
jorri wrote:
Fri Apr 30, 2021 4:22 am
I have the miniscule Hotone tuner.
Its on position is like a boost pedal from silent to a decent boost.
Its not a very nice boost sound when on though.
Thanks. I have a boost I’m happy with already.

What I’m looking for is a mini tuner that can be set to have the display running all the time and only mute the guitar when the switch is stepped on.

My ideal tuner would be always on and mute the guitar with a *momentary* switch, but such a thing does not exist as far as I know.
Ah yes i misread the inverse. But only know of being able to select these things manually, or knob positioned for easy foot control, which the Hotone would do.
unless you used a "tuner out" method, with existing tuner(or smaller nonpedal tuner) and aby splitter that has some built in momentary function that you could easily solder in a different switch.
Or the Ernie Ball VP with built in tuner.
I’ve considered moving to a bigger board with a buffered patchbay with tuner out and a permanent place for my volume pedal, but that’s more money and bulk.

Could also shuffle some things around to make space, but right now I’m really liking the current pedal lineup.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by marqueemoon » Fri May 07, 2021 8:11 am

Ended up finding a decent deal on a gently used Polytune 3 Mini. Will report back.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by marqueemoon » Fri May 07, 2021 8:46 am

Also, for anyone curious the Sonic Research ST-300 Mini does not have this option - only the full sized version.

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Re: mini tuners with "always on" option besides the Polytune 3 Mini?

Post by marqueemoon » Wed May 12, 2021 5:50 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Fri May 07, 2021 8:11 am
Ended up finding a decent deal on a gently used Polytune 3 Mini. Will report back.
It arrived today. I didn’t know it was possible to love a tuner this much.

- Board friendly size
- Bright display
- Good sounding buffer
- Silent switching
- Polytune works in tandem with strobe mode, so I can do “good enough” tuning quickly or get super detailed depending on how out I am/how much time I have.
- “Display always on” mode is great and tracking is super fast, to the point that I could re-tune a sustained note without muting at all.

My only complaint and it’s a very small one is in “display always on” mode there’s no visual indicator when you are muted. The typical application with this mode is going to be muting the guitar with a volume pedal, so maybe they didn’t think it was necessary. I have definitely been in live situations with another tuner where I’ve accidentally muted myself of forgot to unmute and spent an awkward second or so wondering what happened until I saw my tuner lit up.

Durability is unknown, but it seems solid.

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