Sonic Research ST-200 Stomp Box Strobe Tuner

Overall it's a very good stomp box to have on the pedalboard. Its readings are visible on/in all stage lights. You'll see the "roulette wheel" moving if something is out of tune the slightest. Very sturdy and road worthy build. It has some unique features that has not been covered in the rest of the reviews.

Maybe it's just too good for guitar? Too precise, and too perfect? No guitar will intonate within 0,02 cents! I can press with just my fingers any string out of tune, severely with this pedal! Since it doesn't really show how much, it makes you think it's way out of tune, when it's just spinning like hell, but the real out of tune is maybe just at one cent. It reacts to when just TOUCHING the guitars head, or starting to reach for the tuners on the guitar headstock! It is THAT sensitive. It takes a bit too long time to tune up, because it's so sensitive, so one might be better off leaving it at home, when intonating and setting up the guitar or whatever instrument. It's so fast you can tune drums to it too. Very good for its price. The sound it makes? None! It does not have a reference pitch. Some pedals or tuners has this though. I don't have any use for that, especially on stage. Who wants to hear that?

One thing that is different from ALL PEDALS: It turns off the battery when it's turned off. I e the battery wont drain when just you have the plugs in. Which means you can leave it plugged on your pedal board, and don't need to use any power cord, adapter which can be freed up for other pedals. No one has done this before. As one stomps at the switch one can hear a slight "clonk" - electric, not the acoustic mechanical clonk - for when the battery turns active. Also whenever a power cord, 9v adapter is used, it turns on regardless of anything is plugged in or not. Whether this is deliberate or not, I don't know, it says nothing in the manual about it.

It is crucial if you have it on your board to know this. Because, the main caveat I have about it is that they shouldn't have placed the power jack for 9v BELOW the actual input jack! It should've been placed on the front of the box. It gets in the way for your guitar cable, as it protrudes out a bit, and makes angled input plugs impossible to use. Provided of course, that this is the first pedal in the chain. It IS true bypass, as it carries signal even when there's no battery in it, or power chord plugged into it. As fast as you step on the switch it turns silent.

You can also program it beforehand to alternate tunings. Say, if you forgotten one and thinks "Hey, what was it that Michael Hedges used..." you just have to program it once, and remember that it was on the last preset, and tune up to the first down to sixth strings. Very handy. I don't care much for sweetened stuff, like BFTS tuning or TrueTemperament tuning at all. This is the drawback of such a meticulous tuner, with that prickly accuracy. You tend to get OCD and anal about intonation and tuning. Sorry, but an A 440 is A 440 to me, regardless of open strings or fretted anywhere on a guitar. It is a bit overkill for guitar. For other instruments, maybe even piano, it's ok.

The pedal features true bypass, guitar and bass presets, programmable tuning settings, it mutes the signal, but most importantly, it is accurate to ±.02 cents. It should be said, I "upgraded" to this from the Peterson Strobo Stomp. It was the original blue version. The main reason I decided to try the Sonic Research ST-200 was the fact that I was really impressed with its supposedly better accuracy (.02 cents versus the Peterson's .1 cent accuracy) and the significantly faster speed at which it was able to pick out the note. I was not unhappy with my Peterson Strobo Stomp at all.

I have been using the Sonic Research pedal for a few months now. I am not so convinced that it is an upgrade from the Peterson. The Peterson did things that this pedal simply does not do. It had a significantly better screen and was easier and more straight forward to operate. The Sonic Research pedal is a lot more fast in terms of tuning, however I am not convinced that it is more accurate than the Peterson Strobo Stomp was. If anything, it seems a little less accurate and sensitive.

If you are a looking at picking up a Peterson Strobo Stomp or thinking about making the change, be warned: it might not be what you are looking for, especially if you use the other options frequently. In all honestly, I only ever used the "sweetened" guitar and bass tunings or flat tuning, so it did not bother me that much. If you are looking for an easier to see display and faster tuning, you can't go wrong here. I think the Peterson has a bit more to offer. If that is worth the extra money to you, or the trade off of speed, that is for you to decide. I just do not think that this pedal is necessarily "the best strobe tuner out there" as many seem to claim. It is a great unit, but not flawless.

The Sonic Research ST-200 Turbo Tuner just BLOWS every other tuner clear out of the water. It's True-bypass, so you don't have to worry about tone loss, all-metal housing which is VERY sturdy, made in the good'ol USA, and oh yeah, is accurate to a FIFTIETH of a percent. Yes, that is .02 of a percent. Crazy accurate! Not to mention it registers the note pretty much instantly, which allows me to tune up very quickly, and because I know that my tuning is right on, I don't have to worry that I might be just a hair out of tune, etc. For complete specs and information I suggest you check out the Turbo Tuner website at: https://www.turbo-tuner.com/pages/manual-st2.htm

The display is clear, bright, and easy to read. I've yet to have a problem reading it on stage, so props to Sonic Research on that. Reading a strobe tuner can be different at first, but it very quickly becomes very natural.

The only down side to the Turbo Tuner? Whenever I have to use a different tuner (Such as helping tune a guitar class, etc), I get impatient with it because it doesn't register the note as fast as the TT. Obviously not the Turbo Tuner's fault, it just goes to show how faster it allows you to tune.

Overall, I can't brag on this tuner enough. While it may be a little more expensive that a lot of pedal tuners, it is WELL worth the extra money. The only tuner that comes close to this one in terms of accuracy is the Peterson Strobo-Stomp, but even though it costs more, it isn't as accurate and is made in China. I can't ever see myself replacing this tuner with something else, because there just isn't anything better out there yet. Only thing I want added? Polyphonic tuning would be killer, but unless it keeps the accuracy of what it can normally do it really wouldn't be useful. Maybe in another couple of years? Either way, I highly suggest you take a serious look at the ST-200 Turbo Tuner.