Has Korg just announced "the ultimate pedal tuner"?

Korg's Pitchblack design has been refined many times over its eight-year lifespan - its mini and polyphonic editions being the most notable - but with the Pitchblack Advance, the company reckons it's crafted "the ultimate pedal tuner".

Most notable among its new features is a 60-hour battery life from alkaline nine-volts, as well as the ability to limit power supply interference via "software control". Intriguing.

The pedal's slanted design offers improved visibility, aided by high-brightness colour LEDs, which nearly double the size of the note name display and are easily viewable in all light conditions.

Accuracy in strobe mode is +/- 0.1 cents, which puts it on a par with TC Electronic's PolyTune, while other meter display modes include regular, half-strobe and mirror mode.

True bypass switching is also onboard, as is a low-noise dedicated DC out to share a 9V power supply with other pedals.

Korg may have covered all the bases with this one, but we still don't know when it will hit stores or how much it will be, with price and availability set as TBC.

Will the Pitchblack Advance make our list of the best electric guitar tuners? Watch this space…

Michael Astley-Brown

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.