Peterson StroboStomp HD

this is my second StroboStomp HD. first was an early one, second one is slightly revised hardware, most notably they now include a velcro pad.

I can say that this is one of the best pedal tuners on market. when you need enough accuracy to set up your instruments, I just need a hardware strobe. Polytune, Pitchblack or anything digital is not enough accurate for this. currently two pedal tuners on the market provide a real strobe: Peterson StroboStomp HD and the Sonic Research Turbo Tuner. I chose the former, as I prefer the display.

so, what do we get:
1. a real strobe with no needle mode. it's extremely accurate and can confuse new users for a while. but you'll get used to it
2. a color display with user-changable color, visible in direct light as monochrome
3. 'sweetened tunings'. I sometimes use the GTR, but that's it (I prefer equal temperament on well set-up instruments)
4. always on mode or true/buffered bypass. I didn't have good luck with the buffer, but the true bypass is nice enough (like better than on Pitchblack Advance). true bypass is totally pop-less on engaging or disengaging
5. power doubler, so you can daisy-chain another pedal. I don't use this, but big chassis allows it. same for battery operation
6. USB connectivity: update firmware and set some custom settings I never yet used
7. want your reference A to be 432Hz? no problem, it will save it upon power off (Korg, I'm looking at you!) want it to be 400 or 490Hz? or 444.4? again no problem
8. want it to display string numbers, not notes? not a problem. want to transpose? again not a problem. want it to display Bb instead of A#? again not a problem

it might have too many features, I'm actually using very few of them, but very happy of everything I use. and let me repeat myself: if you want to set up your intonation, you need only a hardware strobe tuner, accept no substitutes!

As soon as these were released I knew I wanted one...and I am not disappointed after saving up for it. Really easy to read screen, super detailed and accurate tunings - strobe tuners are the best.

The built in buffer has been super handy for the pedalboard too - I've got mine set up for both the front and the middle of the chain depending on what I need. The price is actually good too compared to other similar tuners. Don't waste your money on anything else.

This tunner is great if you are looking for the most accurate tune, it also has a couple of presets to sweeten your tuning.

The screen is real time and its easy to get used to the way it works, there are also a couple of ways to set it up, like if you want to mute the guitar or real time see what the notes are while playing.

The battery life is also great, had one 9V battery in it for around 3 months without having to replace it.

Overall a great and fancy pedal.

This tuner really does offer a wast amount of options, most of us will never use 5% of them, but you can choose many tunings for different instruments, tweak them, change the colour of the display for different modes, change the way the tuner let's the signal trough, ... just amazing. The strobe style tuning and the screen (and casing) size really are very good. Built sturdy and looks good on a pedalboard, but the tuner is a second unit as I returned the first one because of a snapped power jack plug which surprised me as I really did not do that much plugging and unplugging, probably a production flaw.
So to conclude, everything is really good, tuning is really a breeze and accuracy is top notch, a pleasure to use, I would just wish for an even thicker acrylic screen (it already is very good, but it would not hurt if it were half a millimeter or a millimeter thicker, just to be tank like all around) and be careful when plugging and unplugging - therefore I gave it 4 stars for the quality. The price is also bit on the pricey side compared to other tuners, but I think it is worth it.