User reviews: Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

11/19/11

Fireguy8402's review "Mediocre but Reliable."

The Boss TU-2 is a workhorse of a tuner. It’s no wonder it’s the most widely used touring pedal tuner in the world. While it’s not my favorite tuner, I understand why so many people use it. This thing is built like a tank. Metal input jacks, a metal housing, hefty switch, and a durable screen makes this, like most Boss pedals, nearly indestructible. Accounts of these pedals having reliability issues are very rare. I used mine for several years of gigging before upgrading to a Korg Pitchblack. The Korg beats the Boss out in my book because of the stream and speed of the reading along with being easier to read and being true bypass. The Boss TU-2 has a buffered bypass circuit, but I have never noticed a large loss in tone when using it. Eleven small LED show how far the guitar is out of tune by the speed and direction of the lights. Right of center is sharp and left of center is flat, using the standard set up. Streaming meter display is also an available option, though I stick with the regular style. A larger seven segment LED displays the note names and is fairly easy to read from far away. The tuning mode and display choice is stored in the memory when powered off, so you don’t have to reset that every time you decide to power on the pedal. Tuning modes include chromatic, guitar regular, guitar flat and double flat, bass regular, and bass flat and double flat. The calibration of the pedal is able to be set from 438Hz to 445Hz and the pedal offers the option to power other pedals off of it’s power via a daisy chain plugged into the top of the pedal. The TU-2 can be powered off a 9 volt battery or a power adapter. The pedal is average Boss size and does not take up a lot of room on a pedalboard. Overall this pedal is built to handle the road and works very well, but is just slightly topped by the Korg Pitchblack which is in the same price range and has better features and usability.

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09/08/11

nickname009's review

Overall Opinion

I don't know why I haven't reviewed this before. I've probably had the Tu-2 on my board the longest compared to every other pedal I've owned. Great tuner, very solid and reliable that's for sure. The LED is brightish, though I always want it brighter, it's still good and visible. It has a few extra options available that I don't think..anybody really uses, flats/sharps and all these different configurations available but I simply just use it as a straight on guitar tuner on my pedal board.

One cool feature about this pedal is that it also acts as a buffer. You'll notice this right away when you plug in that your overall guitar signal is louder and slightly brighter. It brings back some of the upper mids and presence that's missing when you connect through a butt load of pedals and cables etc. So that's just an added bonus! Way to go Boss!!

Of course I have since moved on from having so many pedals and now use clip on tuners as they're just lighter, quicker and I don't have to use any extra cables or use up extra space on a pedal board. Though I'd definitely recommend this tuner to anybody just needing a good ol' basic tuner with no hassles. It's always reliable and sturdy, it always has been!

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07/05/11

Everlone's review "The TU-2 is a workhorse."

Overall Opinion

The Boss TU-2 is a workhorse. Any guitarist (or bassist) taking the stage should have one between his guitar and amp. It is simple, easy to use, and can be tailored to fit any guitarist’s tuning needs. My favorite thing about the TU-2 is its reliability. I’ve had the same TU-2 for eight years and it has always made sure my guitars are in tune. It has never acted unpredictable or erratic or affected my guitar tone in any negative capacity. I always place the TU-2 first in my signal chain so it acts as a buffer and helps carry the guitar signal through the rest of my pedals to the amp. My favorite feature on the TU-2 is that you can use the pedal to power up to eight other pedals using a Boss power supply daisy chain. This is an incredibly useful feature if you use a Boss pedal board (i.e. BCB-30) or all your pedals can be powered by standard Boss power supplies. Considering this feature, in addition to the versatile tuning functions, the $99 price tag for the TU-2 seems more than reasonable. With the ever increasing number of stomp box style tuners on the market, the TU-2 still provides me with all the reliable tuning functions I could ever need. It is easy to read on a dark stage, as well as outside in the sunlight. The TU-2 also mutes your guitar signal while tuning so the audience doesn’t have to listen to “The Tuning Song” ever again. Boss blazed a trail when they made the TU-2 and many manufacturers have followed their lead with numerous blatant imitations. If you want the best and the ORIGINAL stomp box tuner with more bells and whistles than you will ever need in a tuner, get the TU-2.

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04/08/11

Hatsubai's review "The standard tuner"

Overall Opinion

The Boss TU-2 is one of the most well known chromatic tuners on the market. It’s a no frills chromatic tuner with a digital display to show what note you’re tuning to and LED guides to show how sharp or flat you are. You can adjust the reference pitch between 438 Hz to 445 Hz, and it also allows for silent tuning.

The Boss TU-2 is an absolute workhorse. If you go to any live show, you’re bound to find at least one on stage. That’s how popular these things are. It’s housed in the famous Boss enclosure, so it’ll withstand anything you throw at it. These things can seriously be thrown off of buildings and survive. The manual is pretty decent, but considering how easy this thing is to use, it’s not really necessary. One issue is that it’s FET based. The FET bypass also isn’t that great, so there is a little bit of tone suckage with the pedal when compared to today’s true bypass tuners.

The TU-2 is popular, and for good reason. On a dimly lit stage, it’s extremely clear. It’s also very quick to tune to whatever note you’re tuning to. That said, it’s not very accurate compared to today’s tuners. It’s definitely not accurate enough to do intonation work. For that, you’ll want a strobe tuner such as the Peterson Strobostomp, Sonic Research Turbo Tuner, etc. It’s also still fairly expensive compared to some of the other options out there.

If you’re looking for a tuner pedal, I can’t really recommend this pedal anymore. It’s starting to get very dated, and the price just isn’t worth how off it can be. For live use, it’s a great pedal. However, I find other tuners on the market to be just as fast and just as easy to read. It also lacks offsets for tunings like the Buzz Fetien system, which is a big downside.

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03/24/11

badgerific's review "Better alternatives? Probably."

Overall Opinion

I think this is a good tuner but for the same price or less I think there are better alternatives.

Features:

-Accurate to 3 cents

-Two display modes: Stream (in which the moving lights become slower when the pitch becomes more accurate) and Cent (which works by having the green light in the centre light when the pitch is correct and the red lights either side indicate wether the pitch is flat or sharp and by how much)

-Seven modes: Guitar, Guitar flat, Guitar double flat, Bass, Bass flat, Bass double flat and Chromatic

-Eight octave range

-Mutes guitar signal while tuning

-Two outputs, one of which is muted when tuning one which isn't muted when engaged

The thing I like most about this tuner is that it's robust and reliable, I've had it for a few years now and used it at a good few gigs and it still works like the first day I bought it, with only a few scratches in the paint to show for it. There are a few reasons why if I had the choice again I wouldn't buy this pedal over some other similar ones in the market. Reason one is that the buffered bypass on the pedal doesn't sound very good in my rig and produces a noticeable change in tone which I'm not a huge fan of. Reason two is that it's not as accurate as the Korg Pitchblack pedal or the TC Electronics Polytune which are both in the same price range, the Polytune also has a excellent polyphonic feature which the boss doesn't.

Unless you want/need a pedal with buffered bypass then I don't think I'd recommend this pedal over the other two that I have mentioned in the review as it's less accurate and has less features. I am going to sell my Boss TU-2 to fund the purchase of a Korg Pitchblack soon as I find the tone coloration the Boss provides unnecessary.

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12/01/10

moosers's review

Overall Opinion

The Boss TU-2 is a chromatic tuner that is suitable for use with any electric stringed, but most popular with electric guitar and electric bass. If you’re playing shows at all, the TU-2 is a must have, as the LED lights that it has make it possible to see it even in the dimmest of situations. The pedal has all the basic characteristics of a standard Boss pedal, with both options for running it on a nine volt battery or power supply. It’s also got ¼” jacks for input, output, and a bypass output as well. Another plus with the TU-2 is that if you buy the optional daisy chain you power other pedals with it, up to eight others that run on nine volts to be exact. This is a huge feature as far as I’m concerned, as I use it to power up a number of other Boss and other brand pedals that require this amount of voltage. As far as the tuner itself is concerned, you can use it with a few different modes of operation, but I only tend to use it in chromatic mode rather than the specified modes for bass and guitar as I find it easy to use. You can also have it spin in a few different ways in terms of how it shows you where you’re at in tuning your instrument, but again I tend to use the standard mode here as I find it easiest to follow. The TU-2 is quite cheap for a versatile tuner like this, as the TU-3 has been out for a little while now and I believe the TU-2 has stopped being made. There isn’t too much of a difference between the TU-2 and TU-3, so if you can snab up the TU-2 at a cheaper price, I’d recommend doing so. The Boss TU-2 is really a must have for all gigging guitar and bass players…

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03/03/09

timloudon's review

Overall Opinion

I've been using this pedal for almost as long as I've been playing, around 7 years. Although the first I had was stolen, the second has been with me ever since. I'm a bass player, and I only use the pedal on the chromatic setting with the 'cent' setting on - as on the picture above. It's most useful for live work, when you can mute off your signal to avoid the rather annoying sound of tuning loudly.

This pedal is actually almost indestructible! I've accidently run mine over, when it was left in a bag with some cables behind my car, and even then it only had cosmetic damage. It's also had beer spilt all over it, by someone else mind, and to this day it has never failed.

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12/11/08

Audiofanzine FR's review

Overall Opinion

(Originally written by marc05400/translated from Audiofanzine FR)

Accurate tuner. It's accurate enough to set overtones under good conditions.

Comes in very handy in a pedal board.

Clear and simple display unless you are an NBA player.

Can't be used with an AC power adapter if it doesn't have good grounding. (there are still such places!!).

Small defect: it has a long latency, which can turn into a problem if you want to quickly tune your instrument between two songs!

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09/04/08

songboy's review

Overall Opinion

I have had this pedal for three years. The best thing about this is the option for bypassing the signal to tune. Very nice, you can choose to tune with your signal still going to your amp, or you can kill the signal so no one has to hear your annoying tuning sounds. Its also has the ability to power up up to seven other pedals. Very awesome if you have a bunch of boss or similar pedals and don't want to bring 7 wall warts also. There really is nothing bad about this tuner, always works great for me. This is the only model I have ever tried. These go for $100 usually, which is expensive, but I think worth it. Being in tune, and being able to tune on a loud live stage is absolutely necessary. I would absolutely buy this pedal again. Every guitarist should have one because even people with great pitch have a hard time tuning in a loud atmosphere.

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03/26/08

soccerplayer25's review

Overall Opinion

I've had the Boss TU-2 chromatic tuner for about 3 years now. Its a really simple pedal, but is one of the most valuable in my set up. I bought mine used, but would have been willing to pay full price for a new one now knowing how valuable this is. It gives you the option of simply stepping on a pedal and having your amp muted and a great tuner at your foot. I haven't looked much into the different modes but it seems that you have the option to set your specific tuning (although I am not sure of this). I have only used it in chromatic mode as it allows me to tune each note to whatever I want it to be. Its also quite convenient to have your amp muted while you tune, and is really essential if you are playing live. I also own the daisy chain needed to power other pedals and I suggest that you pick that up as well if you get this pedal. It powers up to 8 other 9v powered pedals if you have the daisy chain and power supply, which is a really convenient aspect. I've also used the similar Fender made tuner and it doesn't do it for me, the lights on the Boss are easier to see in the dark on stage. The price I would say is about right, as the pedal is built extremely tough, like all Boss pedals. I plan to keep mine as long as I continue to play.

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Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner user reviews ( 8/10) - 35 user reviews