DOD FX12 Tuna Guitar Tuner

Way too squirrely. Yes you can back off on the intrument's volume, that helps, but for quick tuning on stage, forget it.

Not sure, took it back after one day.

Took it back for a Boss TU-2. Costs alot, but actually works on stage.

Very easy to use and most of all, very easy to read on a dimly lit stage -- that's why I got it. Large Alpha character LED displays note and at upper left corner of this display is a LED indiacater that lights up when the flat of the note is chosen to be tuned, e.g., D on alpha display, b LED lit for tuning to Db or C#, (this gives it its chromatic capability).

A row of 9 LED's indicate in cents how flat or sharp you are -- red for the extremes, yellow for closing in, and a single green for in tune -- this scheme is wonderful for dim or no light stage tuning.

I hope I can shed some light on this pedal -- many reviewers say that this pedal is inaccurate and/or is hard to use because the display jumps around alot. First, on the subject of inaccurate pitch, I will say that it is impossible for it to be inaccurate -- a quartz chip is a quartz chip -- it's like saying that a $9.95 quartz Casio watch doesn't keep as accurate time as a $500 quartz Seiko watch. If a fraction of a second a year throws you off or you can hear the differences of fractions of a single hertz, you shouldn't be playing an equal tempered instrument like the guitar in the first place.

As to the display jumping around, this is because it is picking up too much information and is trying to lock on the overtones as well as the fundamental -- simply back off on the volume of your guitar. I have a Les Paul, and to tune it, I select the neck pickup and turn the volume to 5, I then proceed to tune using the Buzz Feiten method (high E - open, B - freted at 5th fret, remaining strings - harmonic at 7th fret).

Very solid -- all heavy aluminum casing -- very well built. I originally went to the store to get the Arion Stage tuner because it is advertised as being an easy to read 'on stage tuner'. I pulled it out off the box and was looking at it on the display counter and was really dissapointed at the all-plastic construction. Then I put my finger on the red display cover and it fell through the housing and down into the unit -- wow! what a wonderful piece of chinese shit!

Then after the salesman turned red, he said 'for $5 more you can get a DOD tuner that's made of metal and is chromatic to boot' (the Arion isn't). So, naturally I went with the DOD and have been happy with it ever since -- it's been mounted on my pedal board for three years now.

Like I said above, if you don't overload it with too much signal, it locks in on the fundamental just fine and I've always found it to be an accurate tuner and easy to read on stage mounted on my pedal board on the floor. This is the first pedal in my effects chain and it serves a dual purpose as being a mute inbetween songs or at the end of sets because when you stomp on it, it mutes the signal from the output so you can tune silently or not have to worry about banging the strings when setting it on a stand etc...

I usually hate the cutesy names and paint jobs DOD did on their pedals (until recently, they finally got the message) but I got to admit that I actually found the name 'Tuna' pretty funny for a tuner and the painted on silver fish scales to be amusingly funky :~) P.S.: if you're having trouble using this tuner, feel free to email me, give me the details and perhaps I can help you.

Difficult to read ... different colored lights indicate when it is in tune; and there aren't many lights. Display is crude.

A slight pop when invoked.

It was difficult to read and inacurate. The first time I used it was in a recording studio and the guy I was working for was shelling out some $$$. I had an old strat that needed some intonation and, I the riff I was playing was up the neck so I had to tune to fretted notes up the fretboard not to the open strings, it was a disaster. When you have a bunch of engineers looking at you and a producer who is shelling out some bucks, the last thing you want is broken equipment. So big deal, I had to tune the old fashioned way but why did I spend $60 dollars and take the time to patch into my pedal board. I later tried using it on open strings and found it very inacurate; I could tune better and quicker myself. As for the thing, it is in the "box-o-dead-peadels" now or in the garbage. I like the idea of an inline tuner on my pedal board, so I'll check out the Boss TU-2 next time.

It's simple, you just plug in your axe and pluck. It's chromatic so you can tune up/down as needed. Manual is stupid, i think you can fugure out how to use it by yourself. It sucks the battery down like crazy, but what pedal doesn't? It has a tendancy to miss notes when the battery is low.

Its a TUNER, it has no sound. slight pop when you hit the peddle; but the pedal doesn't do anything anyway.

Never had problem, its been dropped sat on kicked dropped again It's still flawless

don't know

Tunes accuraly for me The chromatic-ness make playing differant styles easy

Fairly straight-forward, you put this tuner first in your line of effects. When its on, you can't really turn it off, but you can choose to tune silently or to hear the process according to which of 2 outputs you use. Seems to react to harmonics and so its not as stable in use as I had expected it would be.

Here, I'll say more about the tendency of this tuner to "jump around" back and forth across the scale. This uses a system of lights of different colors to show how close to tune you are. I want a solid lock on to the proper indicator but, instead, I often see it trying to make up its mind whether we're sharp, flat, whatever, and it looks like a tennis match going on across the face of the pedal. It varies according to the guitar and the string guage. For instance, its more stable when tuning my LP than my 2 Telecasters. With the Teles, it lies to me about the tune of my low E on both (a 50 on one and a 46 on the other). When Tuna says they're in tune, they are clearly quite sharp, and I have to tune those low E strings at the 3rd fret for proper tune. This is a hassle. Also, Tuna is slow to recognize some of the notes, especially at open position. Tuna works best when kept in a warm and dry place.

Let's say that, when you figure out its quirks and learn how to live with it within its limitations, it works pretty well. Some other review said something about love/hate towards Tuna, and I know what he means. I plan to add an analog display tuner to the pile of gear as kind of a complement/back-up.

Called them once about one of their other products and the man I spoke with was a real delight and very helpful.

I do find it useful but its inconsistencies frustrate me. I wouldn't buy it again as I'd try something else. Had an analog Arion tuner which was also not the real answer, as it too would fail to recognize some notes and lie to me about open G on my LP when I used a 19 guage wound string there. I like the Tuna much better than that Arion but I'm still looking for something which works consistently accurately. I need and depend on a tuner because I'm tone-deaf or, at least, tuning-impaired.

Very easy to use. Just plug it up and tune away. The manual appears to be the standard for a DOD FX pedal.

Generally the sound is OK, but I get a light "pop" from my amp when switching the tuner off and on.

Nice hardened case, It can take a beating. I don't think it will make it through a single performance on a battery though.

This is a love/hate relationship. I wanted a floor tuner which functioned basically like an A/B switch. Punch in, and the tuner comes on, with no signal to the amp. Punch out, and the unit becomes passive, with signal to the amp and the tuner shuts off. DOD made a nice try but they missed. On the FX12, the tuner comes on when you connect any input device, even a cable to nothing. That is, if you leave the any cable plugged in, it's on, even if the selector switch is off. When the selector switch is off the unit is not passive. The tuner is still on, but in some wierd state (it appears to tuning but not really). Unless you buy the power supply, you can plan on a 9V battery every ~4 hours, unless you disconnect it, which contradicts the whole purpose. It's a great tuner, but external power is a must, since there is no way to turn it off. Although, another review here stated that it takes a non-standard 10V power supply, my unit indicates that it takes 9V DC, I tryed a 9V, it worked okay. If you have a pedal board with power, you will love it. If you have to drag a wall wart to it, you won't be so happy.

Well considering this is more of a tool than an effect I can only say so much..
This is a brand spanking new pedal for quick floor tuning. Especially good for gigs in the dark - led's are bright enough.
I will talk about the sound in the next section.
The manual is the same as any other DOD pedal, simple and easy to figure out.

Well there is ONE drawback about this pedal which does effect the sound quality of the unit. This requires a 10volt input rather than the standard 9volt input. Because of the change of design if you decided to use a battery (which did come with mine) it will sound a tad fuzzy while playing (no way around it, so it is not suggested for performances). Obviously to work around this you will need to buy their 10v adapter for it, or go down to your local RadioShack and pick one up for $13.99 (make sure it is 10volt NEGATIVE!!)
Other than that it is decent.

This thing is just as tough as any other DOD pedal, they can hold up to any of the stage rigors that we all put them through....

I have bought several pedals from DOD (all new) and have never had to call for support and have never had any problems with any of the units, so I am quite satisfied with my purchases.

Yes I would buy it again if anything happened to it. This pedal has a new design along with a few other pedals that had come out last year (milkbox, gonkulator, pasturizer, etc.), the new design includes strange names for controls, swivel battery door, pretty color schemes, and the same old durability.