This post is part of GroundGuitar's official Gear Guide, place where we talk reviews, guitar gear, and try to be as resourceful and as helpful as possible. All Gear Guide Posts With the rise of smartphones, it’s hard to find a reason to go out and spend money on a guitar tuner. Why should you when you can install a phone app within seconds, and you’re all set.
Well, not all tuners are same. Some are better, some do the things others can’t, and some you should avoid at all cost. The Peterson StroboClip HD promises to be the one among those that are better than the rest. The tuner you could use for quick tuning, but also for precise intonation setup. A true do-it-all.
In this article, we’ll try and see what’s the whole deal behind this tuner. Premium always comes at a price, but is it worth spending five times more on this than on a Snark ST-8?
Peterson StroboClip HD clip-on tuner comes in a simple white box, and the tuner itself is packed in a cellophane bag. The battery comes in separate smaller sealed bag and you have to install it yourself.
The process of installing the battery is not without faults. You have to unscrew the circular cover on the back of the tuner, which isn’t that easy to do. The slotted battery pocket on the Snark ST-8 seems like a better approach, but it’s not such a big deal. You don’t have to do this that often anyways.
The adjusting arm on the back is very stable and robust, but somewhat limiting in motion. A ball joint feels like it would be a better option, but Peterson may have a valid reason for not going that way. In any case, with this current mechanism, you sometimes get in a situation where you don’t know if you can move the tuner or not. You’ll often be questioning whether you’re on the brink of breaking it.
On the top of the tuner, there are three buttons. One is for turning the tuner on (long press), and for the setup menu (short press). The other two are simple plus and minus buttons for navigating through the menus.
The menus on the Peterson StroboClip are very straightforward. While the tuner on, you tap the middle button and you’re in a menu that Peterson calls “sweetened tunings”. In short, these are presets for popular alternative tunings.
On the display you only get a shortened name of the preset, so you’ll need to use a manual. For example, bFE translates to Buzz Feiten Tuning System for electric guitar. But, once you familiarize yourself with the names, the things of course become much easier.
For most of us, these presets are more cool and nice to have than they are practical. I tried tuning my classical to standard tuning, and then to Peterson’s custom tuning for classical guitar. I couldn’t tell the difference at all. For trained musicians, these will likely be more useful, but for the rest of us, they are just that extra thing to try out and play with. I certainly wouldn’t call this the main selling feature of the tuner.
When you press the button the second time, you’re going into the menu for capo tuning. To be honest, this option is only practical for tuning your guitar few steps up or down. Ignore the whole capo thing. I tried tuning with the capo on, but every time I removed the capo and checked the tuning, things were out of whack. Especially the top three strings. I’m guessing the wound strings get stuck against the capo, and when you remove the capo, it messes the whole setup. This may be due to the the type of the capo – mine has a rubber bottom, but it’s an unnecessary option anyways.
Also, by the way, if you’re in market for a capo, be sure to check our list of best guitar capos out there.
The third press of the button brings you into the pitch calibration menu. This tuner allows you to change the pitch from 390 to 490hz. The standard pitch is of course 440hz, and most of us who stick to the guitar will stay on that value.
The display on the Peterson StroboClip HD is a mile above any other clip-on tuner on the market. Nowadays we’re all spoiled by OLED screens on our mobile phones, and let’s be clear, this screen is nowhere near that. This is older technology. But, it’s completely backlit, and way more detailed than an average tuner screen.
This makes the StroboClip a rare tuner that’s usable in every environment. It works inside and under normal amount of light. Under direct sunlight, you have to struggle a little and change the viewing angle, but it’s definitely still useable.
I tested this tuner against a phone app, a Windows app, and the Snark ST-8. The impression is that the StroboClip is the most reliable of the bunch. You feel most confident that the note is on point, whereas with the phone app you feel like – alright, it’s good enough.
One notion to point out is that it takes a little longer to tune your guitar on a StroboClip than on a standard chromatic tuner. This is because strobe tuning is different. It shows even the smallest deviation from the desired note. This extra time you simply spend on making the strobe pattern stationary, on tuning the string perfectly. It’s a heavenly feeling to make that thing finally stop spinning.
When compared to the TB Strobe Tuner, which is a Windows app, StroboClip still felt superior. One thing that I found weird is that the two tuners disagreed on how my G string should sound like. I couldn’t find an explanation for this. I even tried different guitars, but couldn’t get them to agree on this particular string. What gives?
Anyways, to conclude, Peterson and Snark ST-8 showed the same notes, but the former allowed for more precise tuning. The phone app lagged behind every other tuner. The Windows app seemed almost on par with Peterson, but there’s an obvious minus to this method of tuning. You’re tied to your computer/microphone.
To see how StroboClip compares to these tuners in real-time see Snark ST-8 vs Peterson StroboClip vs GuitarTuna (android) vs TB Strobe Tuner on YouTube.
Ignoring the price aspect, StroboClip is the best clip-on tuner on the market right now. Everything is there, the whole package. The build quality is good, accuracy is top-notch, and the display is better than on any other tuner out there. So, for those of you who want the best, this should be enough.
But, taking the price into consideration, the verdict changes somewhat. This is still a better tuner, but a Snark ST-8, costing five times less, has a way better value to cost ratio.
$69.99
All prices are either MSRP or taken at the time of publishing.
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How-To
Ok, this is one area to not try and save a few dollars. The $#^%* brand cost five times less, what good will it do if you are out of tune, or can’t read the screen? Out of tune is out of tune, there is no right out of tune. All players can benefit by having a tuner capable of setting the intonation, proper intonation being the root of all other tunings and often over looked. Improper intonation is the number one reason a guitar sounds bad. It only takes a little out of tune to just not sound good. A perfect setup and intonation adjustment will make almost any guitar sound and play as they should. It is just not worth taking a chance. People should not try to save a few bucks when buying a tuner. Get one that is proven, get in tune, get happy. Guitars are seldom correctly setup when new. Used guitars can be better or worse depending on what the previous owner might have done. Even expensive guitars can need the intonation set. Where I live the intonation changes every fall and spring as the seasons change the guitar necks like to move along. The only way to be sure is to learn to set it yourself. A good strobe tuner is a step in the right direction as it will be consistent. Sure you can set the intonation using other tuners, but it can be a struggle. The importance of being in tune cannot be over stressed. The small amount a good strobe tuner costs compared to all the other gear people usually end up buying is a small price to pay for making sure all that gear sounds like it should. Treat yourself well and buy the best tuner you can afford, you will be glad you did.