Sabine STX-1100 Tuner

I have owned two of these. My first one lasted 11 years of gigging and finally died, whereupon I immediately bought another one. This tuner is very simple to use, and the color coded LED's on the front make it a snap to tune accurately in any light. The single button calibration on back allows you to instantly tune with another instrument such as an acoustic piano that might be in tune with itself, but not is not up to pitch. Since you seldom have the luxury of getting a provided piano tuned, this really really helps. This MAKES it for me. I simply walk over to the pianist, say "Gimme a D", hold the thing down in there and press the calibration button. The whole thing is recalibrated to match the piano and stays that way til I turn it off. Then I can walk back and silently tune to the piano while the horns are squawking and trying to match the piano. Note: If the green center LED double-flashes, you know it's in calibration mode. Turn it off to set it back to 440. This is all well outlined in the manual.

I hear no noise or signal loss inline. If it adds any color i can't hear it. But I usually keep it on top of the amp and plug/unplug it to tune just to keep cable length to a minimum - i am picky about noise. More recently I've got an amp with a tuner out. All the better.

As I said earlier, I have owned two... the first lasted at least 11 years of twice a week gigging all over the place without a backup or failure. Yes, the case is plastic. Yes, the battery compartment cover falls off. On my first one i quickly replaced the compartment cover with velcro for quick access and threw the battery cover away. Haven't gotten around to that on the new one, though I've had it 4 years I think. This thing doesn't belong on the floor, it belongs on your amp, though when fronting I sometimes do put it on the floor under the mic stand.

Never needed it. It just works.

Folk, Jazz, R&B, Gospel, anything. Playing 25+ years. Play acoustic, electric & hollowbody guitar, fretless and fretted bass. It's very fast to read, and I often check my fretless intonation on it on some of those iffy notes. Batteries last an incredibly long time because of the power-save feature. (i typically needn't change mine for 6 months). In fact, i often feed it batteries that have "gone soft" in other stomp boxes, so its rare that I ever buy a battery just for it. Again, for playing with pianists, mountain dulcimers, funky ethnic instruments etc., that are a pain to retune, the recalibration feature ends all arguments and you can get down to music. I do wish the case were sturdier, but really it stays on top of the amp, so I'm not worried about it.

Very easy to use. If you're familiar with tuning a guitar/bass/banjo/whatever, you'll do fine.

I purchased this tuner new in 1988. It's my hope that the firmware has since been upgraded, but in case it hasn't, be warned: This model had or has a fatal flaw, whereby if an instrument cable is plugged in WHILE THE TUNER IS ON, you'll zap the chip, and wreck the unit. (It simply won't work)

For even an occasionally gigging musician, this is unacceptable.

Absolutely awful. Back when I bought this thing, there weren't any resources like H-C to read reviews. Fortunately, these days there are plenty. I'd opt for a Boss, Korg, or other reliable, rugged equipment. This is certainly not it.

I got my Sabine tuner used back in 1990. No manual. Didn't need one -- it's a fuckin tuner! You plug in, and turn your tuning pegs until the right light comes on.

At one point (several years ago) I ran this tuner in-line to my amp from my guitar. It never affected my sound at all as far as I could tell. Eventually I bought an A/B box so I could tune silently.

It's never failed me... EVER. I've actually dropped my whole rig on it (4x12 cab and an 8-space rack), and it just cracked a little, but it still works fine. I have put some duct tape over the battery door to keep it on, but otherwise it's great. Uses batteries in a friendly way... it gets a little murky when the batteries are low.

Never needed them.

I've been playing rock/metal/hardcore for 15 years. This tuner is the shit. I'd get another just like it in a heartbeat if it died somehow. The only thing that might be better is a rack tuner, but those are fuckin expensive, and you have to be able to get at your rack to tume. This thing fits in a gig bag, tracks perfectly and never craps out. Buy one.

The Sabine STX-1100 is very easy to understand and use. A
well-written owners' manual explains in detail the tuning procedure, manual and automatic calibration (if needed by the user), as well as battery monitoring and other special features (battery saver, AC adaptor requirements, etc.).

The on/off switch is conveniently located in the back, as is the calibrate switch.

The 9 volt battery compartment cover is located on the bottom of the STX-1100. It is quite easy to change the battery (of which you can expect a fresh battery to last for perhaps 24 hours (usage time).

The STX-1100 has 1/4" input/output jacks, allowing the user to place the tuner between the instrument and the amplifier/effects for clean, accurate tuning. The STX-1100 will not affect your overall sound.

The Sabine STX-1100 is a tuner, therefore sound quality is a
non-issue.

The Sabine STX-1100 is a 100% reliable tuner. It has always provided me with accurate tuning of all my instruments. This includes solid body, semi-hollow body and non-amplified acoustic guitars.

As for gigging with the STX-1100, I would not recommend it. The unit is a plastic-cased tuner, and I believe it would not take the abuse gigging would inevitably expose it to. The STX-1100 is definitely not meant to be placed on the floor. Instead, Sabine provides two music stand clips on the STX-1100's top. I use the tuner exclusively for home use, and I have it secured to the top of my amp with the provided tie-straps.

I have never had the need to contact Sabine.

The Sabine STX-1100 is an excellent tuner. As stated earlier, it has always provided me with accurate tuning.

The STX-1100 is exactly what I had been looking for in a guitar tuner; a small, chromatic tuner that would not affect my guitar's sound. It is a tuner I leave on all the while I play.

This tuner does not possess a silent-tune mode.

Another neat feature this tuner does possess is the automatic sleep mode battery saver. When I finish playing, and I sometimes forget to manually turn it off, the STX-1100 will remain on for another 15 minutes. Then, if the tuner does not hear a tone (someone inadvertantly striking the guitar's strings), the unit automatically turns itself off. Turning the unit back on is as simple as sliding the on/off switch to off, then right back to the on position, reseting the 15 minute timer. Pretty cool as it extends the life of the battery.

When I purchased this tuner, Sabine included a coupon for a free set of strings. Not just six or twelve string guitar strings, but the offer included banjo and mandolin strings. Pretty cool offer from Sabine.

It has an On/Off button and another button that I don't use. Very easy to use.

This is as reliable as it gets. I would use it anywhere, even on an effects line-up. I had an older one that got stolen and wanted one ever since. I use it on Bass and it is ultra fast at grabbing the notes. Very good tuner, it is just as fast as my Sabine rack tuner.

This is the best non-rack tuner that I have ever played. It is fast at getting and holding the notes, the angled front is good for putting it on the floor or at eye level, and it is built very well. And to answer the question would I buy it again if it was stolen...I did buy another when it was stolen. I prefer this to my rack tuner because I don't carry around a rack and runs on a battery and is so portable. Spend the extra money for this one over a cheap tuner, because it will last and last.

I get this tiny little marvel, out of the box, and I plug in that simple. I turn it on, and it already has a battery. COOL. I tune my guitar. For an LED tuner, it performs better than my needle tuner. The light goes from flashing fast, to slower, until I get in tune. My guitar has never been this well in tune. If you were considering the Boss pedal tuner, think again, and get this $50 masterpiece

I will put this in front of all my pedals, and probably keep it hooked in, because it has a 9volt jack, which is another consideration. It doesn't change sound so it is perfect

It is made of plastic, and it is very tiny, so I don't really know that I would put it on stage, next to sturdy stomp boxes. For $50, if I was going on tour, I would buy a few of these things. It has latches for putting it on a music stand. I might get a mic stand, and put a plate on it, and then put the tuner. I have only had it for a day, so I am not sure, how dependable it will be

They gave a warrenty, so I will see how it works out

I have had a Matrix needle tuner for many years, and I wanted to do some alternate tuning, so i got this thing. I used to have a Digitech Rp-6 effects processor, which had a similar tuner, but not half way as good as this thing. For $50, this was the best looking, most user friendly thing I could find. It does what you want a tuner to do, and fast. All and all, everybody could use one of these.

This is a great little chromatic tuner. Green lights for guitar strings, red lights for other notes, flat and sharp indicators, and a GREAT battery-saving feature.

Always reliable, and the battery-saving feature saves me money on 9V batteries.

This is a great tuner! Unless you have another $35.00 to spend on a Boss tuner, this is the one you need. This one may be even better than the Boss!

What sets this tuner apart for me is not just the controls (basically just the on/off switch), nor the display with its string of LED lights in lieu of a needle guage, but its speed and accuracy -- no "ping-pong" effect from false readings whatsoever! I can tune my Stratocaster within 60 seconds with this unit (and I'm picky about getting it perfect!).

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It's still going strong after several days of use. It's constructed something like a pedal with an instrument plug-in on the right and amp on the left, but I would NEVER have it on the floor. Only real quibble is a slightly ill-fitting battery compartment cover that I can easily dislodge, and therefore possibly break or lose.

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I would definitely get the Sabine again if it were lost or stolen. Not only do I use it for error-free use on the guitar, but I mount the unit (it has clips on its "roof") on my music stand and sing scales on it -- it has a built-in mike and is wonderful for a vocal warm-up. When shopping for tuners the only serious contender to the Sabine for me was a new one (from Korg, I think) called the Master Tuner, a very handsome unit discounted at $300.00 (!), but it like all the others I tried suffered from the ping-ponging effect.