The Steel Guitar Forum

Jim Palenscar wrote:Not sure why you need headphones when you can simply use a volume pedal w a tuner out so that no one has to listen to you while you tune.

You have it backwards, Jim: I don’t want to fight through all the background noise when I’m tuning. And I want to tune chords, not just individual notes one at time on a tuner.

If you had a programmable tuner, you could set it and forget it- never have to hear background noise - just look at the tuner.

I hear you.

Lee Baucum wrote:I kinda get the idea Frank prefers using headphones to tune.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the steel’s output is mono, while 99% of headphones are stereo. You’ll need a “Y” adapter or cable to get the signal to both channels of the headphone amp or powered headphones. It’s simple enough.... and you could always include an A/B switch to select your rig or the phones.

I always tune my E's to a tuner then tune by ear. I can usually tune by ear in a noisy environment without headphones if the jukebox isn't playing. The reason I tune by ear is a lot of things change the moment a bar presses into the strings. Strings bounce up and down like a trampoline. I do my final ear tuning in different fret positions eliminating anything sour either with nothing engaged or engaged. Straight up open tuning with a tuner never has worked for me.
If you ever watched concert violinist they tune by ear too. Some can even hear the correct pitches in their head without a tuner but I use at least one string as a reference to tune to.

David, that’s basically my MO. Get a straight-up E and go. I just want to shut out the outside world while my ears make the compromises I can live with.

When my hearing goes ... I’ll use a tuner with sweeteners.

Frank Freniere wrote:David, that’s basically my MO. Get a straight-up E and go. I just want to shut out the outside world while my ears make the compromises I can live with.

When my hearing goes ... I’ll use a tuner with sweeteners.

Yeah I use a tuner to tune the whole guitar if it's a situation when I have no other choice. It gets pretty close but no cigars. It's especially crucial when recording where every string sticks out like a sore thumb. Some people have got tuning down to a science by variations in cents for each string but that's a bunch of work too and I'm sure that changes with different scale string lengths. I do it the old fashion way.😂

Here's a picture of the VOX headphone amp I have. It has a set of jumbo-sized headphones plugged into it, as you can see. You could plug some small earbuds into the unit instead of the headphones and fit the whole thing easily into your pocket or pack-a-seat.

You can plug the thing into your volume pedal output instead of the guitar's output if you want to hear your volume pedal in the headphones.

I have the "classic rock" version of this headphone amp and it has a gain/volume/tone selector wheels...No Y-adapters or extra stuff required to use it (as someone mentioned above). Just plug in and play.

Jacek Jakubek wrote:Here's a picture of the VOX headphone amp I have. It has a set of jumbo-sized headphones plugged into it, as you can see. You could plug some small earbuds into the unit instead of the headphones and fit the whole thing easily into your pocket or pack-a-seat.

You can plug the thing into your volume pedal output instead of the guitar's output if you want to hear your volume pedal in the headphones.

I have the "classic rock" version of this headphone amp and it has a gain/volume/tone selector wheels...No Y-adapters or extra stuff required to use it (as someone mentioned above). Just plug in and play.

Yeah the Vox headphones with the mini-amp is what you want for stage use because they are closed back headphones that rejects exterior sound. Works well for tuning by ear in a noisy environment. They also make drummers headphones that really blocks out most of the exterior sound.

Looks good, Jacek - thanks.

Moderator, I think we can close this one up.

Yep, perfect example of multiple people who post before reading

Jeez you guys pay big money for them guitars . Get em to tune it up before they send it and ya good to go !

https://youtu.be/ILnjHumUvKA?t=51

Honestly, I use a Peterson tuner, Equal Temperament except for a couple tweaks, and I can do it without an amp.

I do as Jim stated. Tuner out on my volume pedal to a Peterson HD with the volume off at the pedal.