Polytune Mini

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 12:18 am

Got one today and its the best. Tiny and yet easy to read. I think its the perfect tuner

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 12:25 am

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:44 am

Man shortscale is SLUGGISH these past few days.

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:20 am

Been seriously thinking about picking one of these up and binning my TU-2. Would also save me an output on my loop pedal, as it's TBP.
Hmmmm....
Could be a good use for Â£62.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:04 am

I love my polytune, ditched my old faithful tu-2 and haven't looked back since. Wouldn't have minded get the mini, then I could make my ultimate mini gig board. Congrats cobasics

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:00 pm

Progrockabuse wrote:I love my polytune, ditched my old faithful tu-2 and haven't looked back since. Wouldn't have minded get the mini, then I could make my ultimate mini gig board. Congrats cobasics

Pics please!

Off round the guitar shops of Edinburgh today, so you never know......

Going for dinner and pints after so might not want to carry one around......

taylornutt · Post by **taylornutt** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:25 pm

What is different about the Polytune Mini vs. Original Polytune?

I am faithful BOSS TU-2 user, but I have the Polytune app on my iPhone that I love. I would consider Polytune if I didn't already have the BOSS TU-2.

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:33 pm

taylornutt wrote:What is different about the Polytune Mini vs. Original Polytune?

I am faithful BOSS TU-2 user, but I have the Polytune app on my iPhone that I love. I would consider Polytune if I didn't already have the BOSS TU-2.

I want the polytune mini for size and the TBP. Means I can stop having a dedicated 'tuner' switch on my 5 loop pedal.
I don't think there's a great difference between the mini and the full size. Not sure though.
Anyway, 2nd hand TU-2's still go for Â£30-40 on eBay. I'm thinking that makes it like Â£20-Â£30 for an upgrade, and a bit more convenience. I doubt I'd actually use the polytune setting.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:52 pm

According to TC Electronic:

The original PolyTune and the PolyTune Mini are the same, except for three features:
- Size. Obviously, the Mini is much smaller.
- Battery operation. No room for batteries in the Mini, power supply only.
- Polyphonic tuning for bass. The guitar/bass selector had to be sacrificed in the Mini, meaning that only guitars have access to polyphonic tuning. You can still tune your bass in normal chromatic mode with the Mini, though.

Edit: hmmm. Having posted that, I am not sure it's entirely true. I've got the full size PolyTune and it has a USB socket and a DC out socket - both of which are missing from the Mini. Not sure either are necessarily deal breakers however.

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:21 pm

Correct. Just bought one and asked in store. No USB for software update, no dc out, and no battery option. Didn't know about the bass thing.
One plus is it's small as fuck!!

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 1:37 am

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 4:00 am

I'm still really loving my Korg Pitchblack and it was much cheaper brand new than even most used polytunes go for. I had a $10 GC gift card for taking a survey so I basically got it for only $60 which is only a little bit more than used Boss Tu-2's go for, and I like the pitchblack a lot more than that too, also it is true bypass. I highly recommend it, I've never been excited about a tuner, but it's so responsive with my bass and is small and true bypass so I really love it.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:54 am

I bought my TU2 partly because it isn't TBP and the buffer isolated my Fuzz Face clone input from the guitar. Now I'm using a Wah/boost pedal, that's not so important.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:03 pm

I have the TU3, PolyTune (standard one, not the mini), and the Pitch Black.

I think PolyTune is easily the worst tuner of the three, and not even close. The Pitch Black tuner is by and far away the best of the three. TU3 is good at what it does and functions as a decent buffer, so I put it on a board that could really use a buffer since everything else is true bypass. Pitch Black is on my main pedal board. The PolyTune doesn't even belong on my pedal boards. It sits outside for when I need a tuner and can't find anything else, gets used by the bassist at gigs, and when I'm changing strings, I'll prefer a Korg CA-1 Chromatic Tuner because that little $12 tuner is faster and more accurate than a Polytune. Then again, I think the CA-1 is faster than a TU3, too... Korg really knows how to build a tuner.

I mean, I did buy the PolyTune so I don't think it's a waste, and it's not a complete paperweight, but I don't know how anyone could prefer that thing side by side with a Pitch Black or a TU-3. So I say, if you want a buffer, get the Boss, if you want true bypass, get a Pitch Black.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:37 pm

honeyiscool wrote:I have the TU3, PolyTune (standard one, not the mini), and the Pitch Black.

I think PolyTune is easily the worst tuner of the three, and not even close. The Pitch Black tuner is by and far away the best of the three. TU3 is good at what it does and functions as a decent buffer, so I put it on a board that could really use a buffer since everything else is true bypass. Pitch Black is on my main pedal board. The PolyTune doesn't even belong on my pedal boards. It sits outside for when I need a tuner and can't find anything else, gets used by the bassist at gigs, and when I'm changing strings, I'll prefer a Korg CA-1 Chromatic Tuner because that little $12 tuner is faster and more accurate than a Polytune. Then again, I think the CA-1 is faster than a TU3, too... Korg really knows how to build a tuner.

I mean, I did buy the PolyTune so I don't think it's a waste, and it's not a complete paperweight, but I don't know how anyone could prefer that thing side by side with a Pitch Black or a TU-3. So I say, if you want a buffer, get the Boss, if you want true bypass, get a Pitch Black.

Thats funny, my friend got rid of his Pitchblack as he preferred the Polytune. Did you update yours ages ago?

I'll be buying a polytune mini at some point, they're tiny and make life so much easier when performing live - a quick strum and you can find the offending out of tune string, or even just a quick strum to check everything is as it should be.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 6:34 pm

Does it work on bass? I'm tuning down to A at the moment and my Behringer Tuner REALLY doesn't like it.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:05 pm

My (full size) PolyTune works fine with bass. I don't think the mini has a polyphonic mode for bass though.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:36 pm

ekwatts wrote:Does it work on bass? I'm tuning down to A at the moment and my Behringer Tuner REALLY doesn't like it.

Only chromatic mode for bass on the mini. IMO if you aren't going to be using the polyphonic mode on a polyhonic tuner it's a waste of money, as they are pretty pricey compared to decent chromatic tuner pedals... the fact that you can tune chromatically with them is more of an aid to the polyphonic mode, like when you've got one troublemaker string amidst tuning all of them up real quick.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:25 pm

People have to update tuners? Well, I'll look into it, but I haven't updated mine since I got it, and I got it when it was still pretty new.

I use it on bass. It works well enough. I honestly think polyphonic tuning is a bit of a gimmick, you really need to strum individual notes to fine tune notes. However... on a Strat the polyphonic tuning is somewhat useful because that bridge design often ends up with a couple strings that really stick out.

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:03 pm

Yeah, I bought one with no intention of using the polyphonic feature. I can only turn one tuner at a time, so it doesn't make tuning faster. Suppose it's alright for a 'quick look', but if you think somethings out, you're gonna check all the strings properly. I'm sure the polyphonic mode is also less accurate.
I simply bought it for size, and wanted TBP to free up a space on my 5 way. I have plenty buffers in the signal chain anyway.