Rack tuners?

Artie

Peaveyologist
I've got several nice tuners, including the Snark and the TC Electronics. All of which work really well. But dang . . . there's something about those big ole rack mount tuners. (Like the Korg Pitchblack). Probably just eye candy, but I want one. But I also don't want to throw away good money. Do these things offer any functionality that their little brethren don't offer? Anyone use these?
 
Re: Rack tuners?

I've not used any tuner over the years that wasn't good enough to keep people from throwing stuff at me. I'm sure those kilo buck Peterson units have their uses but just getting through the gig really ain't one of them. At 99 clams the Korg looks cool and doesn't cost more than some stompers. Got a free rack space? What the hell. Can't weigh much either.
 
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If you really want some sweet eye candy, gonna for the full steak dinner and get a real strobe tuner.
 
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if i used a rack, i would probably use a rack tuner but alas...
 
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Do you have the D’Addario Chromatic pedal tuner? That, and the Eclipse clip on have identical displays and both respond quicker than any other I’ve tried.
 
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I don't. But I'll check it out. To be clear, I'm not wanting for tuners. I just love those giant rack tuner displays.
 
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The Korg pitchblack rack tuner is exactly the same as the pedal, just with a bigger display.
 
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They make rack strobe tuners. If you are going to do it, do it right. And they look really cool, too.
 
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I love my Korg rack tuner. The large display is easy to see on stage and it has multiple display modes. It blows those old Sabines out of the water, I still have one of those in a pile of stuff in my shop.
 
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I had one of those Sabine rack tuners and sold it for like $50 in 2004 or so. The display on the Korg is 1000x easier to read, but they don't offer anything over a pedal besides being rack mountable and maybe a slightly bigger display.
 
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A rack tuner would be great fixed on a bench. I don't think I'd want to drag out racks to gigs anymore, though.
 
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Meh

All a rack tuner will do is show you your actual tuning in more detail than you, your tuners, your intonation, or your ears have the ability to deal with.

Strobe for fun tweeting to infinity at home? Go for it.
Live? Better/faster ways today.
 
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I had one of those Sabine rack tuners and sold it for like $50 in 2004 or so. The display on the Korg is 1000x easier to read, but they don't offer anything over a pedal besides being rack mountable and maybe a slightly bigger display.

It was just mostly a fad once stage pedal tuners became available. but no doubt Sabine and Korg rack tuners were fun (the second Sabine being quite easy to see like the Korg) but in truth they are just cool looking and still carry the often desired stigma of being "pro" -but a Boss TU2 or similar is all a professional musician needs.
 
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A rack tuner would be great fixed on a bench.

That is exactly my plan. I hate having to dig through my bench junk to find my tuner. Then again, I could organize my bench a little better.

Btw, I looked up those Peterson rack tuners. Ouch! Those are expensive.
 
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Honestly, the TC electronics strobe function is WAY more accurate on paper than the Peterson Strobe or others -although tests say they are about the same.

and you don't NEED ANY of it. Only a clear display large enough for you to see and understand how to tune

These tuners are orders of magnitude more accurate than any human can hear -essentially it makes you fiddle unnecessarily when playing live

For studios, super accurate tuners are great for getting an instrument to vibrate as sympathetically as possible -but live makes zero difference.

EVERY electrical signal based pedal or rack tuner on Sweetwater is at minimum twice the resolution than a human ear. -and some are quoted by the mfg as 250 times more sensitive (Polytune in Strobe mode)

and even tested, just about everyone is twice the resolution https://tuniverse.io/detection-accuracy-compared/

Point is -as long as it's an electrical signal style tuner (not a clip on) -you're good.

make you decision for a tuner about workflow, and being able to see and operate it effectively.
 
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