If you're a guitar owner, regardless of what experience level you are, beginner or professional, odds are that you also own some type of electronic tuner as well. Odds may also be that you're pretty satisfied with that piece of equipment and really haven't given much thought to replacing it anytime soon. Well, prepare yourself, because that may be about to change.
Some of you may be thinking "come on, a tuner's a tuner." Well, although that's partially a true statement (after all they do all perform the same basic function), after receiving and having the opportunity to sample the Fender PT-10 Pedal Tuner, I can't agree that all tuners are created equal. The first thing I noticed about this piece was what an attractive, sturdy looking pedal this is. Now you can't always judge a book by it's cover, but after closer inspection, I quickly affirmed my initial thoughts. The silver case is made of metal and the footswitch that controls the Power On/Off is made of a think, black plastic. Together they combine to make a very well constructed unit, and one that looks like it can stand up to some real tough treatment.
Aside from being a very well built unit, there are also several other things I found to my liking with this tuner. First, and most obviously, this is a pedal tuner, and is therefore extremely convenient to use. I've tried a lot of tuners in my day, and have to say that having a foot controlled pedal tuner is just toooo sweet. It's great to be able to run the pedal between your amp and guitar and have the ability to just click the tuner on and off when you need it. To me it's always been an annoyance to waste those few minutes having to unplug from your amp, plug into a tuner (I'm speaking of those small hand held types with just one jack), tune, then plug back into your amp, when with a pedal tuner, all you have to do is step on the switch and you're on or off just like that. Well, that little rant leads me to another feature that I just love about this product. The PT-10 has 2 Output jacks that work 2 different ways. "Out 1" allows the signal to pass through the pedal when powered on. In other words, you can hear the notes being played as you tune. This is probably the most common way of tuning, especially if your just practicing or doing a basement jam with some friends. But what if you're performing on stage and need to tune between songs? You don't really want to expose the crowd to that, right? Well, that's when "OUT 2" comes in. Plugging into "OUT 2" mutes the signal through the pedal allowing you to tune without hearing the notes being played. It's an excellent feature and one that I have made great use of.
The PT-10 also features several LED readouts and although instructions to read these LED's are provided, after a quick glance, you'll realize it's all quite self explanatory. One set of LED's identifies which note you are playing, while another band of LED lights guides you to the perfect pitch for that specific note. This "tuning arc" consists of 9 segment LED's with ranges of +/- 40 cents. The red lights indicate if a note is flat (left of center), sharp (right of center), or in perfect tune (centered.) When in tune, the green center light will illuminate. What I really liked about this design, is how very easy it is to see at any distance. Unlike some tuners that use dimmer lights, darker color schemes, or one of those thin floating needles that can be hard to read in their displays, the PT-10 display is easily readable from even a normal, upright, playing position. The PT-10 also includes on it's display face a Battery light. When battery power is low, the red light will begin to flicker to warn to you.
Below are the general specifications of this product provided in the PT-10's owner manual:
MODEL: Chromatic Pedal Tuner PT-10
MEASUREMENT: C1(32.7Hz) ~ B8(7902.14Hz)
SIZE: 78(W) x 129(D) x 42(H)mm
POWER: 9V DC (006P) x 1
WEIGHT: 472g
BOTTOM LINE:
If you're looking for a great tuner, you've just found it. The Fender PT-10 is a well made, durable, tuner pedal that gets the job done right... and looks pretty cool doing it, too. Now, I realize the price tag may be a bit higher than a lot of other tuners with less features currently on the market (the PT-10 is listed at around $69), but remember, you’re getting an actual pedal tuner here and sometimes it's wise to spend a little more on quality... and in this case, I think it's worth it. Besides, as far as actual pedal tuners are concerned, Fender’s PT-10 is priced right around the middle of the range – and offers more quality and durability than most. Hats off to our friends at Fender on another job well done, and on another product they can be proud to put their name on.
