Since the advent of Smartphones, I haven’t used a dedicated tuning device of any description. Instead, I bought a few ios tuning apps, experimented with a few, but have been using TC’s Polytune app exclusively for years. It did the job, but wasn’t perfect to my sensitive ears. None of them were, but the Polytune was the least “not perfect”.
Roll on a few years, and as my ears got less forgiving, I needed more than the ios apps could give me. Chords sounded more and more, erm, dischordant. Fine in Emaj, but the slightest bit off in Dm, for example.
So I started to look for alternatives and came across the Peterson Strobostomp HD. I researched it, along with many others, for weeks before taking the plunge, but I am glad that I did.
The Sweetened tunings for electric and acoustic 6 stringers are, for me, absolute game changers. The differences between equalised and sweetened tunungs are miniscule, a fraction of a fraction of a turn of the tuner peg in either direction, but it makes a huge difference to how the “whole” feels, inspires and motivates.
This is after a couple of hours of use. Can’t wait to delve deeper.
One thing, tho. Since buying the pedal, I have also bought the ios Peterson app, for the times that I don’t have my entire rig with me. I won’t be spending in excess of £50 to get similar functionality from the app. That doesn’t make sense.
If you buy the hardware, the software should be free, or at least discounted.