Find The Best Mandolin Tuner

If you've been shopping for a mandolin tuner, you already know that there is a wide variety of tuners available. There are guitar tuners, bass tuner, violin tuners, but not so many mandolin tuners. You may also have noticed that many of the tuners available have a chromatic function.

Tuners with a chromatic function can detect notes in a range covering all 12 notes of the chromatic scale meaning they can be used not just for tuning a guitar or bass, but also most other stringed instruments including your mandolin, cello, or ukulele.

This article is going to focus on two types of chromatic mandolin tuner, pocket type tuners and clip-on chromatic tuners.

Pocket tuners normally use a built-in microphone to sense the pitch of a note played on your mandolin. This method of detecting makes it very easy to tune just about any acoustic instrument, provided you are in a quiet place. If you are playing in a noisier venue the built-in microphone will pick ambient noise making for difficult tuning. Most pocket tuners however can be fit with an optional clip-on microphone or sensor to help alleviate this problem.

As the name suggests clip-on tuners clip firmly to the headstock of your mandolin recognizing the pitch of the note you sound by sensing vibrations in the instrument rather than sound. The result of this method of detecting pitch is a tuner that is not influenced by ambient sound, perfect for tuning in a noisy environment.

Pocket tuners are inexpensive, compact, and easy to use making them a perfect mandolin tuner for any player, beginner to advanced. The optional clip-on microphone greatly extends their versatility

Korg CA1
Chromatic Tuner

Korg CA-40 Large Display Auto Chromatic Tuner

 
 
Yamaha YT250 Chromatic Audio Tuner with LCD

Korg BA40 Tuner for Bluegrass Instruments

 
 
 
Korg CM-100L Clip On Contact Microphone For Tuners

Boss TU-80C Chromatic Tuner & Metronome

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Cleartune - Chromatic Tuner
The Cleartune chromatic instrument tuner and pitch pipe allows you to quickly and accurately tune your instrument using the built-in mic in your iPhone or using an external mic on your 2nd or 3rd generation iPod Touch.
Easily tune acoustic or electric guitar, bass, bowed strings, woodwinds, brass, piano, tympani, tablas and any other instrument that can sustain a tone.

Pro Tuner
The Pro Tuner is highly accurate and has more than 100 build-in tuning modes, including tunings for Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin, Banjo, and Bouzouki.
Available on iPhone, iPod, and iPad

Simply clip the tuner to the headstock of your mandolin and you are ready to go. Since the tuner is sensing vibrations rather than sound you can tune your mandolin quickly and easily, regardless of whether your venue is the livingroom, a jam session, or a noisy pub gig. Given the ease of use, accuracy in all situations, and low cost I think a clip-on mandolin tuner offers the best value available for the dollar.

Snark SN-2 All Instrument Clip-On Chromatic Tuner

Intelli IMT500 Clip-on Chromatic Digital Tuner for Strings

Tune Tech TT1 Clip On Chromatic Tuner With One Touch Function - Tune Almost Any Instrument

Intellitouch PT10 Mini Clip-On Tuner

Korg AW2 Clip-on Chromatic Orchestral Instrument Tuner

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