MusicRadar Verdict

The SN-2 has proved invaluable for practise and gigs, and has good - if not exceptional - battery life. The SN-1 trims off unnecessary features, comes in a more palatable black as opposed to red hue, and saves you just about the price of a set of strings. A no brainer!

Pros

+
Speed and accuracy. Extra features.

Cons

-
Nothing, and it's cheaper than the SN-2, plus a little easier on the eye than its big brother.

MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.

Classed as a guitar and bass tuner (as opposed to the original SN-2's description as an 'all instrument' tuner) the SN-1 is effectively the same machine but with a more limited frequency range.

Not that that should bother guitar and bass players. The only other difference is that there's no mic mode (really only necessary if it won't fit on your headstock), just vibration mode.

"There's a clear read-out with fast pitch identification on a variety of guitars, basses and even our ukulele."

And thanks to the well-designed rubber grip clip, it fits on all the guitars and basses, acoustic and electric, we had to hand. The tuner head, which rotates 360 degrees, houses the circular LCD display and unlike some headstock tuners, can be positioned exactly where you need it.

Other features include pitch calibration from 415-466Hz, a tap tempo visual metronome, and a transpose function that keeps the readout E-E even when you're using a capo on the first four frets.

In Use

With the same 'engine' as the SN-2, the SN-1 is just as good. There's a clear read-out with fast pitch identification on a variety of guitars, basses and even our ukulele. Superb.

Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.