Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner 

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

I bought this tuner to install in a rack I'm assembling. The tuner looks, feels, and works great. The manual is useful and easy to follow and understand. The tuner fits in a standard 1U rack space with no problems. Quality of construction is high and the tuner is very sturdy and weighs about ten (10) pounds. The LCD display is bright, clear, and large enough to read at a reasonable distance from the tuner. Just plug in your instrument, select a customized sweetener if you like, play a note, and it will automatically be recognized and displayed on the tuner while the screen scrolls left (flat) or right (sharp) to indicate the current note status. You can program eight (8) user presets (sweeteners as they are called) and for me that is a good feature since I play pedal steel guitar primarily. The display can be programmed to scroll or flash whatever message you would like to display while playing (band name, next gig, personal website, etc). A mute button allows you to tune your instrument without sending the sound output to your amplifier/speaking system for all to hear. Unmuting allows you to then continue playing as normal. There is an optional extender unit available for the rear of the tuner which allows for more and varied input/output connections but for my use, that was not required. I'm very pleased with this tuner and highly recommend it if you are looking for a very accurate rack mounted tuner.

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

I have some experience with virtual strobes as a Peterson VS-1 owner, but the VS-R is a truly outstanding tuning device. The rock-solid stability of the virtual strobe image makes it so much easier to 'cage' that perfect frequency point. When it comes to getting it just right and you suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder as I do, this is the tool for you. Due to the constant string stretching and relaxing that takes place, tuning and retuning a pedal steel guitar can be draining (10 open strings, 3 pedals for 6 strings, and 5 knee levers for 10 strings). But now without all of that screen flutter (and I'm not being hyberbolic), this job is actually relaxing.

The unit comes with many 'sweetened' tunings for a variety of instruments including the pedal steel. But I like to use a hybrid tempered tuning on my Fred Justice PSG so I preprogram two of the 'user programmable sweeteners' with all of my note variances; one set for the open strings and one set for the pedals and levers. Now I push the mute button and it defaults to the 'open string' set. After tuning those, I select the second set and finish with the pedals and levers. What a gas! I only have to touch the tuner twice for all of my note variances.

Enough said. Strongly recommended.

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

No real good alternative.
The tuner portion is great.

The unit has a flawed audio signal path design, it tends to create ground loops. Plan on using an isolation transformer.

Although it uses an AC cord, it uses a typical wall wart that is lashed down inside the unit and the wiring bundles are held in place with hot glue (will obviously fail w/in 5 to 7 years). Found this out when Peterson customer support had me open the unit up to move a autodetection pin while attempting to solve the 60hz hum.

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

This thing is great. It has more features than a Ferrari, tunes within .1 cent (10x better than most tuners)and is built like a tank. It's one of the sturdiest rackmount pieces I own. The price is up there a bit, but if you have that kind of money to spend, I would recommend it over the Korg DTR-2000 even.

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

The tuner showed up this morning and in less than 20 minutes I was up, running and amazed. As a guitar player I can't tell you how many times I have used a tuner and then retuned using chords and harmonics to actually get the guitar to play and sound in tune. Yes, the intonation had been set, neck adjusted, new strings, blah, blah, blah. The sweetened tunings adjust for the compensating guitar players are used to doing when they tune their guitars and then try to play with any amount of effects. Seriously, tune and play -that simple. No more tune, then re-tune, play around with harmonics, maybe some chord strums etc... If you play out you don't have time for that anyway. Price is up there. If you get this with the free expander you will have to take the tuner apart and install the expander and you will see the internal make up of the unit. Quality components but not much in there.I would replace it immediately if it came up missing and I've had the tuner 4 hours now.

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

I like keeping my rig small and compact. This unit is a must have. Pedal Steel guitar can be tuned when changing a broken string in the middle of a song... unlike waiting for the song to end so you can hear the harmonics to confirm. The sweet tuning offers 2 PSG settings. I use the Jeff Newman version. You silently tune all pedals, knee levers, and open strings... and that's it! When done, you're in the pocket. It's so accurate there is no need for harmonics to fine tune. The rack mount model is on the high end of the Peterson tuners, but the convenience of having it always there without having to run extra cable is worth it. Display screen is easy to read even outdoors in the afternoon. If I had to recommend ONE modification, it would be to enlarge the small portion of the screen that displays what sweet tuning instrument you are using. If the bass player uses it too, and forgets to turn the setting from Bass back to PSG, its easy to forget since the display size is small. Either way, Buy it!

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

I have had this for a year now with no problems use this on my 5 and 6 string ken smith basses with no problems tuning. strobe lines are always stable and easy to align the low B always works built like a tank

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

If you are sick of korg or boss tuners not tracking properly this is the way to go. As a guitar player, I can watch this tuner track as I bend the string. Awesome. The sweeteners and temperaments really help for intonation etc. I have yet to play a rackmount tuner that comes close. All the others are the same as any other $20 tuner. Most tuners are accurate to 1 cent, but the peterson is accurate to 1/10th of a cent. Don't kid yourself.

Comments about Peterson VS-R StroboRack Virtual Strobe Tuner:

Great Tuner !!! But only one very important Mistake : NO adjustments for the Display (Contrast, Brightens). Most of the times very hard to read display on the stage (even its located high in the rack).