There’s way too many tuners out there. On this page alone, I’ll be dicussing three models from the dozens that Korg has for sale. Obviously, Korg is not the only brand to sell electronic tuners.
With that being said, let’s look at it calmly. This post is here to guide you and will advise a particular model for each situation. I know those models and I know how they’re going to be a great fit for the various scenarios in which guitar players need a tuner (beginners, electric vs. acoustic guitars). I’ve been through those.
The safe choice for 90% of cases
If you:
- are a beginner,
- aren’t willing to invest a lot,
- are looking for a dead simple solution,
- would like to tune your guitar in calm as well as noisy settings,
- own an acoustic guitar but are considering an electric guitar (or vice versa),
Then the Korg PC-2 clip tuner is a great choice and a handy tool in every guitar player’s toolbox.
Official demo
For more flexibility
If you:
- would like a slightly better tuning precision,
- would like the tuner to have speakers so you can hear the notes,
- need to be able to tune your guitar with a cable (electric or electro-acoustic guitars) and with a microphone,
- also own or consider owning a bass,
Then the Korg GA1 tuners is a good choice as far as ‘advanced tuners’ are concerned. While not as lightweight as clip tuners, they remain portable (slip easily in a case), and very affordable.
Official demo
For electric guitars
If you:
- plan to play on stage,
- plan on playing electric guitar in noisy environments,
- plan on moving while you play (which would be cumbersome with a clip tuner),
- want your tuner to be handled with your feet like your other effect pedals,
- do not want to have a tuner running all the time on your amp, which would drain its batteries,
- do not want to be plugging the cable from the amp inside the tuner and back every time you need a tune up (waste of time),
Then the model I personally recommend is the Korg Pitchblack. I’ve used it for many rehearsals as well as twenty gigs a couple of years ago, and it’s never let me down.
Its features are the following:
- very sturdy,
- extremely fast, more than the competition,
- very readable thanks to its large screen, especially at night (on stage),
- true bypass: when turned off, the sound of your guitar will go straight to the amp as if the tuner didn’t exist. This is a quality that’s sought after by electric guitar players in order to keep a great sound even when they’re chaining many effects.
