TC Electronic POLYTUNE 3 Ultra-Compact Polyphonic Tuner with Multiple Tuning Modes and Built-In BONAFIDE BUFFER

I was on the fence about whether to choose this unit or the comparable Boss TU-3 unit. They're both the same price, and both get good reviews. I finally decided to go with this unit because it's a newer design and offered both conventional and "strobe" style tuning. The latter appealed to me because I have been using a Peterson Strobo-Clip tuner for some years, and really like the strobe tuning method. I decided I wanted a stomp-box tuner so that I could mute the sound and do quick tune-ups more conveniently than the clip-on tuner permits.I play electric bass. I found that the conventional tuning mode on this Polytune 3 pedal was just fine for my needs, and I have not yet even tried the strobe version. It also revealed that I need to touch up the intonation on my jazz bass -- playing various notes up and down the fretboard showed some deviation from the correct tuning. All the more reason not to need the micro-precise tuning of the "strobe" style display.When I say "conventional" tuning display, I mean a display that shows a needle that is positioned to the left of center if the tuning is flat, or to the riht of center if the tuning is sharp, and dead center when the tuning is correct. Some tuners have arrowheads on either side of center that light up when you are not quite at the correct tune. With this unit, the needle itself changes color, displaying as red when the note is sharp or flat, and green when it is correct. It is very quick to go through the four strings of my bass and tweak it for the needle to be green.This is a chromatic tuner, meaning it listens for the incoming note and displays what it thinks the note is. That works fine for me. It is only necessary to know that the standard 4-string bass tuning is E A D G. There are handheld (not stompbox) tuners, like the Boss TU-12, that have fixed presets for tuning a guitar or bass, but that is not generally available on a stompbox.The Polytune 3 has a "soft" pushbutton that puts it in and out of tuning mode. By "soft" I mean that there is no mechanical ka-chunk as the sawtich is operated. When the unit is tuning, the output is muted. When tuning is finished (by pressing the switch a second time), the output is connected again.There are three modes available, which are selected by internal DIP switches. The first mode provides "true bypass" switching when the tuner is turned on and off, which means that when it is not tuning, there is a direct connection from the input jack to the output jack. The second mode provides "buffered bypass," which means that the incoming signal passes through a "buffer" amplifier when not tuning. (This can be advantageous in a number of situation, especially if long cables are being used.) In both of these first two modes, the tuning display lights up only when the tuner is active and the output is muted. In other words, you can immediately tell whether you are muted or not by looking to see whteher the tuning display is lit up. The third mode is also buffered, but the tuning display remains active all the time. Thus, in theory, you can watch your tuning as you play. I have only used this unit in the second mode (buffered bypass, display on only when tuning) because that best suits my needs.There are many features which I may never use. For example, while the factory setting is A=440 Hz, it is possible to adjust this reference. Also, the unit is advertised as allowing the user to play all the notes on the instrument at once, whereupon it claims to be able to sort out which of the notes are off. I don't see any particular benefit to this for the bass, and I have read that users do not believe the tuning accuracy is quite as good in this "polyphonic" mode. Frankly, it doesn't take very long to tune 4 strings individually, and that's what I do. Since my bass keeps tune pretty well, it only requires minor tweaking to deal with room temperature change, etc. This takes no more than a minute at most.All in all, I'm very happy with my choice of the Polytune 3. It's very easy to use, has quite a readable display, and makes keeping in tune during a show very simple. I suspect the competitive units out there (like the Boss TU-3 or the Korg Pitchblack) are also fine, which may make the choice more difficult in this category. All I can say is that I think people would be happy with this well-made unit, so hopefully that will help with the decision.

PROS: Best tuner on the market. The addition of the bona-fide buffer is an absolute win-win as it gets both the buffer and tuner first in the loop. Yes, many pedals buffer the input now, but not all buffers are created equal. Make no mistake this is a high quality buffer that will eliminate tone suck almost 100%. I like how you can configure the internal switches for always-on tuning and true-bypass if your situation dictates that need. Pedal remembers your tuning/instrument preference which is great, screen is very readable in different conditions. Strobe tuning is a great feature for that .1 cent accuracy for studio work or bridge intonation adjustments.CONS: It can't all be perfect right? I really wish you could disable the poly-tune feature. Ironically this is the least useful part of the polytune IMO. Because I'm primarily a bass player I just have no interest in it. Does is work? Sure, best as I think it can. For me I want to tune 1 string at a time accurately as possible. Although the tuner switches from polytune mode quickly I have found in loud environments it can take a split second. In those instances It seems to hear multiple notes from the resonance of the instrument and take a moment to switch to single string tuning.. I feel many people will have no interest in this feature and really wish it could be turned off, it is a minor issue and I still recommend this tuner over anything else on the market in this form factor.The strobe tuning could be a litter clearer with a more dense LED array. It totally works, but at times you will need to concentrate on it to comprehend the readings. I initially intended to use this in strobe tuning at all times, but found its just a little cumbersome for live performing. The good news is the chromatic tuner mode offers .5 cent accuracy, which is twice as good as the main competition. I find this to be completely acceptable for live performing. The 1 cent accuracy of the main competition is fine is most instances, but as a bass player I find 1 cent off from an electric piano in the lower register is audible.Lastly the tuner seems to be on the heavy side of battery usage. It's certainly not the worst pedal I have used in this regard, but with an integrated buffer and a ton of LED's I guess its to be expected; Especially if you enable the always-on tuning. As a bass player I often find with just a tuner and a emulator/DI box its just not worth plugging in to AC power.

Outstanding tuner

I've been playing guitar for about 17 years and this is the BEST and most ACCURATE tuner I've ever used, and I've had more than a few, various brands and sizes. I would chose this tuner over any other brand. VERY EASY to use. It's EXTREMELY versatile- you can choose between true bypass or buffered (I use buffered), chromatic, strobe, or polyphonic tuning modes (I always use strobe), 9v battery or power supply, toggle between multiple tunings and frequencies and more. I use this tuner on my pedalboard and also on my workbench- it tracks notes almost instantly and the strobe mode is accurate enough for setting intonation. It has a soft touch switch, so there's no noise when turning it on or off. The display is perfect- bright, easy to read, not crowded, and the colors make it easy to see what's going on. It even has a 9v pass through that can power another pedal. Incredible. Cheaper than buying a tuner and buffer separately. I'd recommend this tuner to anyone. This is the last tuner you'd ever need. I might even buy another, just for the convenience of not having to take it off my pedalboard when I want to use it on my workbench- it's that good. I'm even planning on getting a Polytune Clip for my acoustic guitars.Plus, it comes with easy to read instructions and a free sticker...which is always a nice bonus in my book.