Best Cheapest Hand Held Tuner?

[Nimitz]

I tried searching the old threads but... meh

What would you guys suggest for the best quality/precision cheapest priced hand held tuner?

I want something where I can tune down 1/4 steps... you know to play alone with some Pantera!

I can get it by ear but still want to have a nice tuner for cheap.

Thanks in advance.

[Robert Hendrix]

Not really "hand held" but I've found this to be pretty handy.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/acces...RWXGB&ZYXSEM=0

[sixx_ gunner]

+1 on the Snark. I use it often with my acoustics for different tunings.
I also have a Fender one like this:
http://www.activemusician.com/item--MC.AX12
I like it, easy interface and easy to view.

[hippietim]

You can Snark's on Amazon for 10 bucks. Buy a few.

[Nimitz]

Ok I just bought the Snark SN-2 on ebay, it tunes with vibration or sound. $10 bucks shipped

Thanks for the input guys

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Korg Dt7 or the new pitch black.
Boss TU-3 is great aswell.

[Chad]

I like the Snark SN-8. I'm not using my SN-1 and SN-2 very much since I got the SN-8. It seems to track faster and be easier to read and I like the black color better. They're cheap enough you can buy multiples.

[Grim]

I have a cheapo Planet Waves that works really well. I wouldn't use it for setting intonation (I have a Peterson strobo-stomp for that), but it works in a pinch. Got it for 19.99 IIRC.

For the record, you can tune down a quarter step with any tuner. Just tune the note so that the tuner is changing between E and Eb, A and Ab, etc etc etc.

[Alvin_Wilson]

I like the Snark SN-8. I'm not using my SN-1 and SN-2 very much since I got the SN-8. It seems to track faster and be easier to read and I like the black color better. They're cheap enough you can buy multiples.

Cool, I just bought the SN-8.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300662806346...84.m1423.l2649

[cableguy]

Second the Snark. Great tuner

[Nimitz]

Got the snark... just what I was looking for... these little fuggers are great even on vibration mode it can display what notes you are playing pretty fast.

Thanks for all the info guys.

[Nimitz]

I set the Snark tuner to 431hz and tuned to standard EADGBE and bam dead on Dimebag Tuning...

Here is a list of Dimebag Tuning all a quarter step down.

Vulgar Display of Power:

Mouth for War: E
A New Level: Drop D
Walk: D
Fucking Hostile: E
This Love: E
Rise: E
No Good: D
Live in a Hole: E
Regular People: E
By Demons Be Driven: E
Hollow: E




Far Beyond Driven:

Strength Beyond Strength: E
Becoming: D
5 Minutes Alone: D
I'm Broken: D
Good friends and a bottle of pills: (?)
Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks: D
Slaughtered: E
25 Years: E
Shedding Skin: E
Use My Third Arm: D
Throes of Rejection: D
Planet Caravan: E


The Great Southern Trendkill:

The Great Southern Trendkill: D
War Nerve: D
Drag The Waters: D Flat
10's: D
Thirteen Steps to Nowhere: D
Suicide Note Part 1: Drop D
Suicide Note Part 2: D
Living Through Me: D
Floods: D
The Underground In America: Octave G (see note)
Sandblasted Skin: Octave G (see note)

For the above two mentioned songs, Dime tuned his guitars sixth string (which is already in D mind you) to match the pitch of the 5th string. Hence, an octave G.



Reinventing The Steel:

Hellboud: D
Goddamn Electric: D
Yesterday Don't Mean Shit: D
You've Gotta Belong To It: D
Revolution Is My Name: D
Death Rattle: D
We'll Grind That Axe For A Long Time: D
Uplift: D
It Makes Them Disappear: Drop C
I'll Cast A Shadow: Drop C

[Chad]

Doesn't that work out to around 1/4 step? Anybody know the story on why Pantera did the microtonal thing?

[Nimitz]

I heard because Dimebag would "ghetto tune" by ear and it wound up being a 1/4 step down... at least that's what he said on that guitar clinic video... or some such shit like that.

[Chad]

If one session were "ghetto tuned", then that might make sense. But it would take special effort to intentionally tune like that on a repeated basis.

[Nimitz]

If one session were "ghetto tuned", then that might make sense. But it would take special effort to intentionally tune like that on a repeated basis.

Not the session itself... a dude at the clinic asked Dime about his tuning, but Dime's answer was like he really didn't want to say how he tunes his guitars. Just some quick BS.

I'm sure the amazing metal guitar masterpieces that Dime and the Cowboys gave us, they were holding all the Aces!!!

[Chad]

Thinking out loud...

If Pantera had played primarily one tuning most of the time, then maybe it could have been that he preferred the tone of two different tunings and couldn't decide which to go with so he went somewhere in the middle. But considering the amount of different tunings they used, that argument doesn't really hold up.

I'd guess he did it to add some mystique to the recordings to get guitar players scratching their heads trying to figure out what was going on. Today it's relatively easy to find a tuner that can compensate for the offset, but back then there were probably only a handful of tuners that would do that. I think he used Korg rack tuners.