Monoprice Chromatic Pedal Tuner – Black, Stage Right

This tuner is well made. No concerns about the build quality. Good features. What stands out is the display, which is awesome. I’ve had several other big brand tuners that cost 4X – 6X as much as this one and this is the best display I’ve ever had on a tuner. It looks much better in person than the photos. It seems to be as accurate as anything else I’ve used. It reads quickly and doesn’t bounce around. No issues reading my 5 string bass. I do not have the issue with the power supply plug not going in all the way as another reviewer stated and I also do not have any audible popping when engaging or disengaging. The only things I don’t love are the rubber feet on the bottom making it difficult to put velcro on, but I managed to get enough contact to make it work without removing the feet. I also prefer the power supply plug on the top vs the side, but that’s not a big deal either. This is a no Brainerd, it’s unbelievable at this price point.

Chassi de metal, bem construído. Boa precisão na afinação. Possui duas saídas (mute e bypass), o que e bem interessante e funcional. Ponto negativo é a entrada de bateria na base, o que dificulta a colocação de velcro. Ótimo custo/beneficio.

If I designed a tuner pedal, this is how I’d do it: accurate, easy to read, robust, battery powered, two outputs (one always on, one muted when tuner active), doesn’t drain batterie when off if cables are left connected. Better than many tuners from “big brands”!

I tried it out against my Polytune and my Snark and it was right on the money. Bright display and a quality build construction. Save your money on expensive tuners and put it towards your guitars when you can have a low cost quality tuner that does the job.

Excellent easy to use, clear, acuarte tuner.

I’ve never owned a Monoprice product before so I took a chance, but out-of-the-box I’m impressed with the performance of this little stomp box.

The materials used are good with a metal body, but unfortunately a plastic bottom. All input/output/power jacks connect solidly. Its foot switch has a positive “click” for tactile feedback, something I always prefer. It’s also flat-topped and standard diameter (10mm), so it readily accepts toppers which I install on all my pedals.

However in this case, that’s barely true since the top of the switch protrudes only about 9mm, instead of the usual 15mm you find on most pedals. As a result, when depressed the topper actually touches the pedal’s body, but thankfully not quite enough to dislodge it.

One feature I’ve never seen before: It actually has two output jacks. One is bypassed normally when the foot switch is operated, with the other being a feed-through that’s always active. Personally I’ve no use for it, but I suppose it would come in handy if you wanted your chain’s output routed to another piece of gear without interruption.

The display is bright and easy to read, even in low-light stage conditions. Most importantly it displays cents, so you know when you’re approaching pitch. I’ve owned several other tuner pedals which lack this feature, containing only sharp, flat, and in-tune LEDs.

Another unusual feature for low-end pedals these days is a battery compartment, and in fact a cheapie 9V is included. This is of no concern to me since I run dedicated power supplies on all my boards, which everyone who uses multiple pedals should do and say goodbye to expensive batteries forever.

Speaking of batteries, there’s a sticker on the bottom which warns that the pedal will still draw current unless you disconnect its input cable when not in use. That would be an awfully easy thing to forget as well as a hassle, and yet another good reason to be using a power supply.

Next, the description reads “This tuner is designed to fit into your pedal rack”, but I’m afraid that couldn’t be further from the truth. Any pedal board I’ve ever seen attaches pedals via a Velcro hook/loop system, but instead it has 4 pre-installed rubber pads which must be peeled off in order to apply your own adhesive hook material. While doing that, you’ll also need to dance around the thumb lever for the useless battery compartment.

All that said, on to the good stuff!

– It is indeed true bypass, super important in a tuner pedal for the ability to completely mute pedal board output when placed at the front of the chain (as tuner pedals should always be).

Here’s a little trick to test for this with any effects pedal: Simply disengage the foot switch, then disconnect power. The guitar signal should still pass through, exactly as if it were directly connected to your amp using a standard TS cable.

I’d highly recommend avoiding buffered bypass pedals since without fail they generate line noise, and worse often leak output when “bypassed” if other pedals down the chain are active.

– I checked it against a much more expensive tuner I own, and it seems to be pretty much on the bingo.

It’s not absolutely perfect, but what can you really expect at this modest asking price? It suits my purposes just dandy for quick tweaks while on-stage, as well as the ability to mute my entire chain when appropriate.

Since adding it on my board a few days ago it has performed flawlessly, but time will tell as to its durability. For now, I’m definitely a happy camper with this product.