Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner Pedal

Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner Pedal Overview

The Boss TU-3 is the industry standard pedal tuner by which all others are judged. Built to Boss’ usual high reliability standards, this is a tuner you can trust.

The TU-3 is the latest incarnation of the standard Boss pedal tuner and features a smooth 21-segment LED and new, high brightness mode, making it great for use on bright stages. It has a range of different display modes (chromatic, guitar/bass, stream/cent, etc) to suit your tuning preferences. Plus, it mutes the output, so your audience don’t have to experience the dreaded mid-set tuning song.

GAK's Boss TU-3 Pedal Tuner FAQs:

Q1: What’s the difference between the older TU-2 and the current TU-3?

A: The TU-2 was accurate to +/- 3 cents, whereas the TU-3 is three times more accurate at +/-1 cent. To do this Boss have upgraded the LED display. The TU-2 had an 11 point LED and this has become 21 segments on the TU-3. On account of player feedback the TU-3 also has more visibly bright LEDs.

Q2: What’s the difference between the TU-3, the TU-3w, and the TU-3s?

A: The TU-3 is the current ‘standard’ Boss pedal tuner. The TU-3w is the Waza Special edition and features even brighter LEDs, plus a much higher spec internal buffer. All Boss pedals include FET switching, and with players adding high-spec audiophile grade buffers to their boards these days, Boss have made the TU-3w to combine two utility pedals into one and save us all a bit of pedal board space. The TU-3s is smaller and switchless, it's great as a bench tuner for techs or on pedalboards with volume pedals that have a bypass output. Essentially it's a space saver for people that don't require tuner switching.

Q3: Why does the TU-3 have two power sockets?

A: One of the power sockets is a power input, and the other is an output. To add to the TU-3’s flexibility Boss have added this output so you can power other effects via a PCS-20A cable. Just plug a regular 9v power supply into the power in jack and hook-up power to your other effects with the power output and PCS-20A. The TU-3 will source up to the amount of current supplied, so how many pedals you can power depends on the PSU, but most will supply enough to power small pedal boards. The Boss NS-2 also has this power output feature and if you have a larger board with both an NS-2 and TU-3, you may be able to power your whole board from just these two Boss pedals. Even if you decide to use a separate power supply, these Boss power outputs can be absolute gig savers, should your PSU fail you at the wrong moment.