Today’s piece of gear isn’t a pedal, but something that every player should have as the first bit of equipment they buy along with their instrument: a tuner. No ordinary tuner, either, mind you: this thing is in a class all its own, untouched so far by imitators or copycats. Now completely wireless with no phone necessary (although you can still use the app in many beneficial ways), this is some next level tuning right here. You might be saying to yourself, “I have a tuner, why do I care about this thing?” Well, read on and your mind may just be changed….
We reviewed the first incarnation of the Roadie Tuner at the end of 2015, and it remained a staple mainstay of our demo video production right up until the second version arrived on our doorstep. With the first one, you had to plug your guitar into your phone and control the wireless tuner via an app – not super complicated, but much-improved upon for Roadie 2. Here, everything is controlled onboard the tuner itself, and it uses a vibration sensor instead of a microphone, for perfect tuning in any environment, quiet or noisy. It also provides tuning that is 3x more accurate than the human ear (for all you purists out there), with Detection accuracy at less than +1 cent, and Tuning accuracy up to +2 cents. The reference A 440 Hz setting is customizable in 0.1 Hz increments from 420 Hz to 460 Hz as well.
It doesn’t matter what axe you play, as Roadie 2 is equipped to handle all kinds of string instruments including electric, acoustic, classical, and steel guitars, 7 and 12-string guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, banjos and more. This time around, they haven’t left out the bassists, either, with a special bass version of the tuner available for your low-end needs. Experiment with and easily access different tunings as well, as you can choose from 40 preset alternate and open tunings, or create your own custom tunings.
Still not convinced? Well, there’s even an automatic winding feature (the motor rotates at 60 RPM) for quick and easy re-stringing of your instrument as well. You can create and store different profiles for all of your instruments, and sync it across devices, refine your advanced tuning options, such as reference pitch and capo tuning and even customize the speed and accuracy of your Roadie 2. For more info, head over to their website and see all this thing is capable of – chances are, you’ll be enjoying your very own shortly thereafter. Thanks to the crew at Roadie 2 for keeping us in tune, and for making the sometimes tedious task of tuning a bit easier on us all!
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