Korg GA30

Well, like the other review for this Korg Tuner, I will sing its praises. Unlike the other review for this tuner, I am a player, and I've used other tuners and can give you a little more of a hands-on epinion.

I will not copy and paste the specs from a website, as I feel that just takes up space and no one really wants to see all that anyway, they want an OPINION, not another owner's manual. And I shall give you my hands-on opinion of this tuner -nothing more, nothing less.

I will tell you that I've used a different tuner for a number of years, and wanted a tuner that had the needle, for accuracy. I found this little guy at a local guitar shop, and liked the thought of the lcd screen's needle, which my other tuner did not have. It just had a few lights. This tuner has BOTH. (If I'm confusing you I apologize, but hopefully if you're reading this you're already a player or are at least familiar with electronic tuners!)

The pros of this unit are its small size (about the size of a deck of cards, but thinner) and its array of features. But, in turn depending on your needs it can also be a con. It is a tad too small for live stage use, and has no screen light for dark stages.

First of all, you can use it as you might expect. Just set it on your lap or your desk, and pluck away with your acoustic or electric. The unit picks up even faint nylon string sounds, and gives you a flawless (in my opinion) reading of that pitch. Or, plug in your electric's power chord to your guitar, and then to this tuner, and you get flawless 'silent' tuning. Just make sure you have your electric's volume knob up! It will tune electrically (in-line) or acoustically (by its built in mic).

Second, it has adjustable calibration. For any of you unfamiliar with that in music terms...it means the level at which you want your guitar in-tune, or the 'pitch' of the tuning. You can tune to the exact pitch of a song you're trying to learn, or keep it around 435Hz for standard tuning. You get the idea. A little personal tweaking is a button-push away. You're not forced to use standard pitch as with some other tuners.

Third, I appreciate the fact that should I want to use it, it has a tone button. You can find a note that you want, and the tuner plays a tone to that pitch. Most players I know don't use this feature a whole lot, but it's nice to know it's there. Just push the tone button to turn on, and to cycle through the notes, low to high, flats and sharps included. And like mentioned earlier, you can also adjust the calibration (pitch, in 1 Hertz increments) while using the tone feature too.

I've heard other reviewers on different websites, such as Musician's Friend (catalog merchant), say they hate this tuner because it switches back and forth between notes and can't make up its mind what note you're trying to tune to. But, while it does happens rarely, I must say I haven't noticed this to be a problem unless you're using the mic, and there's some sort of background noise. Like any electronics, this must be used CORRECTLY to get optimal results. Don't be fooled by reviews that were written by inexperienced yahoos that use things incorrectly and then write a bad review!

The only real drawback I can think of is that while it has an input for your power chord to tune an electric instrument...it has no output, to go to your amp so you can play and tune whenever you want without switching your chord back and forth. Another tuner I used had this, but I guess that unless you're planning on dropping out-of-tune an awful lot while playing, that you don't really NEED this. Of course, you could always just plug into your amp, and use another chord to come out of your AMP's output, to go to your tuner. I suppose that would solve that issue! But this isn't a amp how-to article, so I'll get back on topic!

You should, if ever considering an inexpensive tuner with studio-quality accuracy, buy this tuner. Korg has been a trusted name in everything music since 1963, and this is a fine representation of the basic tool that EVERY musician needs, whether veteran Grammy-winner, or campfire strumming beginner.

**UPDATE**

I realized shortly after I wrote this review, that I actually own the Korg CA-30, and this review is for the Korg GA-30. (Identical tuners, basically the same thing).

Now there are only a few differences...that being that this reviewed tuner, the GA-30, does NOT have the calibration adjustment as does the CA, which I own. And the GA can switch between guitar and bass, mine (the CA) does not 'switch', but can still be used for either. Also, apparently this tuner only comes in silver finish as pictured, while the CA (mine) is black. I thought I just had the black version...oh well!

I apologize for the mixup, but I will let this review stay posted because the two tuners are basically the exact same thing, and will function the same given the minor differences noted. Epinions does not have the Korg CA-30 in its database, so this review will stay here for now!