Gear Review

Snark SN-2 All Instrument Clip-On Chromatic Tuner

I was recently in a guitar shop a couple days ago, browsing through the latest guitar pedals, as I've been known to do, I decided to try out a couple fuzz pedals for pure experimentation. For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, a fuzz pedal sounds like the gritty reminiscence of the Grunge era getting scraped off pavement by a metal shovel and combed out into a thick fluffy 1960's style Afro; the sonic texture of the pedal is defined in both influential eras of rock music.

The link below is a great example of an all-fuzz tune that showcases the thick brutality of this classic pedal tone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FSTSlyB9sQ

While I was in the guitar shop waiting for the salesman to rig up the proper cables in the isolation booth (which sounds like a terrible place but its really quite wonderful), I was pondering which guitar would be the best candidate for this fuzzy endeavor. I selected a Fender Telecaster Deluxe 72, because low-output guitars get colored up really nicely by destructive guitar pedals.

I patched in, closed the foamy door, and engaged the pedal as my pick-hand rolled down like an avalanche to strum-slam a fat E major chord. Anticipating an earth shattering fuzz roar, unfortunately for me and everyone in ear shot, the guitar was devastatingly out of tune! What looked in perfect form to be a E Major chord shape, sounded in fact like an off-key banshee scream! For my own lack of embarrassment I'm going to say, the salesman was on his way back from grabbing a new tuner off the shelf because he already knew, without my sonic reveal, that the guitar needed a tune-up.

The salesman cracked open the door of my foam chamber and clipped on the little ruby red tuner to the headstock of the Telecaster Deluxe in my hand, that was wilted in shame from the blasphemous croak. I was amazed at the compact design of this little red bullet, arching in an impressively ergonomic way that suggested the R&D department were in fact seasoned guitar players.

This could have been one of the most brilliant sales tactics ever used in the history of guitar tuners, I can just picture the sales manager briefing the sales team, "Alright fellas, keep all the guitars on the shelf out of tune, badly out of tune, for when the gear-head guitar players come in to try out new pedals, present them with this great little tuner and pass it to them in the box, label facing out."

No in fact I did not make up that last detail, I totally read the tagline on the box before he opened the tuner and slapped it on the guitar neck, perhaps it was an accident or perhaps the above conversation truly happened, oh those evil geniuses! During this blissful consumer experience I recalled the tagline and it resonated with perceived truth, "Tunes tighter, Sound better."

The best part in the experience was when I engaged the oval shaped power button and the LED display illuminated my curious face with its sharp defined impressive color repertoire. The light bulb then went off in my head just as the LED's turned on bright: I dont have to tell other guitar players to shut-up when I am tuning up because it tunes the guitar through the neck's vibration, and not through a mic! The problem with conventional tuners is that you need relative silence without any other tone carrying interference, an environment that is hard to come by in your average band's rehearsal space. It's a great solution to every guitar players pet-peeve, that little annoyance that causes animosity and beer bottle throwing in every jam room.

"Dude, I'm trying to tune here! Turn that amp off!"

I wouldn't be surprised if the great band break ups you read about in all rock the magazines actually had the seed of indifference planted by the above statement. No longer needed is this remark in my jam session vocabulary, I will fill the void with other phrases such as: "Dude, do you think lots of hot babes will be coming to our show?" or "Hey! Check out this amazing little tuner I bought for under $20 bucks!"



Written by: Graeme Csath