Sabine AX-2000

Very easy to use, just stick it on and tune.

I wouldn't want to drop it.

I recently found an NOS Stealth tuner for acoustic. I remember them as being easier to deal with in a noisy environment. They didn't have the literature with the other discontinued products. The support page was just an e-mail comment card.

Playing in a fairly loud acoustic situation is a little frustrating. I stand next to a stand-up bassist and I can't tune when he's playing. If it could be more isolated it may work better. I don't have time between songs to tune and this won't allow me to tune during songs.

How much easier could it be? Stick it on and tune up.
Even I figured it out for christ-sake!
It turns itself off after about 2 minutes.
which is just about how long it takes a loser like
me to tune!

Yeah, it makes me sound just like SRV !!
seriously, kind of a crazy question for a unit like this!

You can depend on it for sure, my only problem has been that it doesn't seem to be inclined to pick up the low E string very well,
I need to be very patient with it for some reason, I usually fret the
fifth fret and tune to 'A' and it picks it up immediately, then I'm good to go! Are they all like this?

Never needed customer support, I've had it six months, use it every day and it still runs on the original batteries - what more can you ask?

Works great, better than any other quick unit I've ever had, I'd buy another one it a heartbeat! Clean it off once a week and it sticks to anything, including satin finish acoustics - I wouldn't leave it on there but it sticks for the required 2 minutes! I have a high end acoustic with a gloss finish that I really baby and it's spotless. This tuner sticks to it so well that I'm always afraid I'm going to scratch the finish trying to take it off! I highly recommend this tuner!

you turn it on and tune. its pretty easy.

it falls of my les paul a lot. that sucks. its not just the dirtying of the pad, it also has to do with my les paul not being flat, so it falls of frequently. quite frustrating sometimes. the battery life is pretty decent. i'd prefer it to take AAA or something of the sort, only because they're easier to aquire. i don't even know if i'm writing all of this in the right category *shrugs*

i got it on a rip off trade. not that this thing is bad, cos i like it. its just that i got rid of something REALLY cool for this (which is good, but not too special) and some money (i REALLY needed cash at the time). It'll probably be my main tuner for a long time, unless i get a pedal tuner for gigs. i'll probably just use this with my acoustics then.

First, my unit is actually a little older version of the AX-2000, the AX-800. Looks and appears to act identically.

Generally, it is very, very easy to use. It has always locked on to the signal on my acoustic guitar in even fairly noisy environments. Seems like the way they determine if a signal is in tune is right on the money.

If the pad gets dirty, it won't stick well, but just clean with water and it seems fully rejuvenated.

The biggest problem is you can not leave the tuner on your guitar for long periods of time (see below). I loved just not having to worry with attaching a tuner each time I played, but I learned my lesson the hardway to obey the manufacturer's instructions to a tee.

As mentioned, not in signal chain so does not affect quality.

Battery usage is not bad, but of course you would always want to keep some spares handy.

My biggest problem is that after leaving the unit on my acoustic for over a year (they tell you not to leave it on your guitar to prevent damage to the guitar and I have seen a little fuzziness on the finish because I violated this instruction, but I didn't really care about that issue), when I went to remove it, the sticky pad stuck to the guitar - but not to the tuner! The end result is the transducer was yanked, pulling one wire off the transducer and another wire off the circuitry.

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR TUNER ON YOUR GUITAR FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME!

1) Minus: on their web site, if you click on the "Contact Us" link, you just get a form to fill out. However, if one clicks on the "Visit Sabine's Corporate Headquarters", the phone number is listed there. Seems like the phone number should be included on the Contact page.

2) Plus: got through to Customer Service right away. The guy was real friendly. Offered to replace my unit with a new one for about $40 (about $5 less than what I could find on the web). He told me the unit was glued and could not be opened (found out that it was glued but was able to get it open after a moderate effort). He said it was not possible to replace the transducer (I took it appart afterwards and it looks like the transducer could be replaced by someone handy with a soldering iron).

Overall, it was a pretty good experience. Of course it would have been nice if they could have sent me a new transducer for free or better yet a new unit.

In spite of the unit breaking, I am still fairly happy with it and will probably get a replacement and just be more careful next time.

Easy to use even for a color-blind slack key guitarist.

Falls off my guitar before I have a chance to tune it. Doesn't stick on a matte finish. Beware

My old Sabine was a great chromatic tuner, even for a low string tuned to C. The new one needs velcro or something

This tuner has a few different features such as ability to define A (so if you want to play to a piano that's not quite on 440, you can use the piano's A and tune accordingly) and auto-off (turns itself off after 2 minutes). You just stick it to your guitar, turn it on, pluck the strings and tune - can't get much easier. However, sometimes the pad gets dirty and it doesn't quite stick to the guitar and sometimes it doesn't sense the vibration from the guitar but if you work with it a little, it works great. (so I'm giving it an 8). Another feature that I appreciate is all the notes are listed (the flats/sharps are between the letters) - some other tuners display the note and then turns separate LED on to indicate sharp - this is much easier to read.

Perhaps the greatest thing about this tuner is that it has no sound quality! You never put a signal through it - it has no chance of corrupting your sound.

It's fairly reliable. You can tune just about any guitar anywhere. It doesn't matter if you're on a noisy stage and if you have an acoustic guitar (with no electronics) - it senses vibrations from the top of your guitar. But, again, I've found that I have to work with it until it picks up the vibration. And the stick pad gets dirty pretty easily.

I haven't had to deal with Sabine about this product yet. But I did email them a question about another product - they replied my email within the same day and answered my question thoroughly.

This is a great tuner and I would definitely replace it if I ever lose it or break it just because I can use it effectively for acoustics. I think it's very accurate and easy to use. It's incredibly small and easy to carry.

Yeah, I know, how hard can it possibly be??? Turn it on and finish tuning within 2 minutes. DO NOT DROP THIS UNIT ON A HARD FLOOR. It's the sticker part that is the pain. I had one of the early ones with a black rubber sticky... Although I cleaned it with a tad of soapy warm water as per instructions, it still fell off my strat onto a concrete slab floor. Lights out, kaput. They later sent me an improved version. This one never fell off, in fact it would stick so good that I have to really struggle to get it off the plastic case they give you. My friend dropped this one again on a slab floor, gonzo. Dead. They sent me yet another one. No problems, but I think I should sell it before it falls on the floor and breaks again :-)

Right, there is no sound so it's not really applicable... but in a way it is! You don't have a piece-o-crap-tone-suk-pedal-tuner in yer chain. It's even more perfect then a true bypass solution. So it leaves your signal as pristine in sound quality as it can be.

Regrarding pedal boards: I would buy Sabine's new pedal tuner (still not released as I'm writing this), but I would not use it on my board with out an A/B switch. They claim to have a circuit that does not affect your sound, but don't buy it. If sound is fed to the tuner it takes away from your original signal. They probably get away with legally saying no signal loss because 1) you can argue that the human ear can't detect it and that tone freaks are not human. 2) it's not life threatening so no one cares. If your are using buffered boss and dod type pedals, then you can leave it in your path because the loading from those pedals when they are off are no worse then the tuner. If you invested in hand-made, true bypass, point-to-point wired pedals, use an A/B switch. Product Suggestion: Come up with a "true" true bypass solution, maybe using two switches?? e.g. bypass/tuner; silent/non-silent.

Don't drop it! I have a mildew tasting pitch pipe as a backup ;-)

I'd give them an 11 or 12 if I could. Actually when the first one fell and broke, I posted a warning about it on usenet (and I was pretty irate in my posting). Well, SABINE CONTACTED ME and asked for my address and gave me a free replacement. You can't beat that kind of product support, they said the first back had bad stickies and they improved it. I posted a followup in those newsgoups that the company took care of me, and cares about their customers in general. The second time it broke, I just sent the unit to them with a letter asking them to help me out. They sent yet another one, wonderful support (though I never mentioned it was the second time).

I was irate the first time it broke because I spent over $70 on it: 1) because it was real new and the list price had not yet come down, 2) I bought it from this piano store in Green Brook, NJ whose markup used to be way high on everything. I guess now it goes for about $50 street, but to me it's still pricy. If I bought another vibration sensor type, I would get the "intellituner" that clips on the head. It is about half the price, even if their tuning algorithm isn't as good as sabine's, the clip idea is better.

P.S. to you country folks NTN network, don't leave those things mounted while performing, it looks dorky.

Piece of cake. Stick it to the guitar and it works. The pad itself can get hair and junk on it. It wipes off with paper towel and water easy enough. I own this and two Intellitouches. Have to admit that I always reach for the Intellitouch first. Just prefer snapping that to my headstock rather than goofing with the sticky pad. Can't beat these kinds of devices, whether Intellitouch or AX-2000, for easy tuning. No cords. I love em. Great inventions. Note that low-Es on these units (and the Intellitouch) sometimes are picky, but you'll get used to that.

Never had a problem with it or any Sabines. Battery seems very long lasting. Shuts itself off after small period of non-use, so you won't drain it that way.

Simple to use, stick-on chromatic tuner; it picks up vibrations from the body. You've just got to watch for the color changes: Yellow you're flat, red your sharp, green you're right on. Learning to tune quickly with it takes a little bit of practice since you have get a feel for how far to turn a tuner based on the light pattern (it flickers at different rates depending on how far you're away from the target note)

No really applicable, but it tunes well. My complaints: 1) Doesn't work with contour body guitars like an LP since it needs a nice flat place to stick. 2) You can't tune an acoustic with it in a noisy environment since the noise causes the top to vibrate and thus makes the tuning hell.
However, overall it works really well and is great for acoustics in a home environment since you don't have to fool a tuner with one of those stupid mics. I leave it permanently stuck to the side of my acoustic.

I've had it for two years now and it's still going on the same battery. It's slim and not really in too much danger of getting broken though you do have to be careful; it's made of plastic after all. Probably not the best gig item. The sticky pad has not caused any finish problems and, as Sabine claims, can be cleaned and rejuvenated with a damp cloth.

Never contacted them.

Overall I really like the tuner; the best use is for tuning an acoustic at home IMO since it's hassle free and you can leave it in place. Tuning electrics is a bit tougher since you have to find a good, flat space to stick it to and you typically can't leave it in place; for gigging it's probably not the best choice

You turn it on, you pluck a string and that's it. Unless you're color blind, it's one of the simplest machine ever designed.
Especially useful when the drummer won't shut up.
The only problem that I have, since one of my guitars is a ES-335 with a contoured body, is finding a good spot on the guitar to stick the tuner. Guitars with flat bodies cause no problems whatsoever.

n/a

Very reliable. The tuner can have problems in noisy environments (especially with acoustic guitars because the tuner relies on the body's vibrations).
You have to be careful with this tuner. It's so small, it could easily get lost or stolen. Because of that, a backup would be wise.

Four years ago, I bought the first model (tha ax-800) and after a few years of use, the on/off button broke down. The unit's warranty had been expired for a year or two.
I contacted Sabine and they replaced the unit with the brand new model (the ax-2000), at no cost! They even paid for the shipping! What more can you ask?

I would buy this piece of equipment again, no question about it. I love because it's unobtrusive. It does its intended job perfectly.
My only beef is the problem of making it stick to a contoured guitar body. Besides that, fantastic machine.