BOSS TU-3W Tuner Waza Craft

The BOSS TU-3W is a pedal tuner from Boss, a Waza Craft special edition of the company's TU-3 chromatic stompbox tuner. It was announced at Musikmesse in April 2016 alongside the smaller always-on TU-3S, as one of two new variations on Boss's flagship tuner¹. At its core it provides the same rock-solid tuning as the industry-standard TU-3; what sets it apart is a redesigned analog circuit built for the most transparent audio pass-through Boss could manage, a premium buffer, and selectable true-bypass operation².

For a player, the pitch of the thing is simple: it is the familiar Boss stage tuner in a black Waza Craft casing, with the signal path reworked so the pedal leaves less of a mark on your tone when it is just sitting there in the chain³²⁴.

A TU-3 with a redesigned signal path

Waza Craft is Boss's premium line, and the TU-3W brings what Boss calls "Waza Craft mojo to the world's leading stompbox tuner"⁴. The tuning engine itself is unchanged in character: RockBoard's PedalPedia says the TU-3W "provides rock-solid tuning equivalent to the industry-standard TU-3"², and Guitar Interactive Magazine likewise reported that "the TU-3W provides tuning functions equivalent to the immensely popular TU-3"⁵.

What Boss redesigned is the audio path around that engine. In the maker's words, "Pure, uncolored signal transfer is essential for a tuner, and the TU-3W features redesigned circuitry" with the most transparent audio pass-through possible². Boss's own description of the line adds that the TU-3W "features redesigned circuitry with a premium buffer. Additionally, it features selectable true-bypass operation"⁴.

The enclosure is the other visible difference from the standard pedal. As Gearnews put it when covering the Musikmesse launch, "This one follows the more classic design of the TU-3, retaining the pedal part. Here, however, the casing is black instead of white"³.

Not every writer was sold on that framing. The same Gearnews piece added that "the whole 'transparent' thing of the Waza Craft isn't exactly a big deal for me either"³. A player who cares about pass-through transparency can weigh that against Boss's own claims; the selectable bypass, covered below, is the more concrete difference.

Buffered or true bypass, selectable

The TU-3W's headline feature for many players is that the bypass mode is a choice. The pedal offers selectable buffered or true-bypass operation²⁵. In buffered mode the premium buffer sits in the signal path, which can help drive long cable runs; in true-bypass mode the audio path is switched out entirely when the pedal is disengaged.

This is where the TU-3W most clearly departs from the standard TU-3, which is a buffered-bypass pedal with no true-bypass option⁷²³. Guitar.com's reviewer, comparing tuner pedals, summed up the practical advice for players who insist on a hard wire: "Try the Waza version if true-bypass is a must"⁸. Players deciding between a buffer and true bypass can read more on the buffer pedals page.

TU-3 versus TU-3W at a glance

The current draw difference is worth noting on a busy board: at 50mA the TU-3W draws two and a half times the TU-3's 20mA²⁹, so a small isolated power supply with limited headroom per output should be checked against it. Both pedals run on 9V DC, center negative².

Where it came from

What reviewers said

Published coverage of the TU-3W has been measured rather than glowing. Gearnews, covering the launch, treated the redesigned signal path with some skepticism, noting that no recommended retail prices were available at announcement and that the transparency claims were not a big deal to the writer personally³. Guitar Interactive Magazine and Guitar World both reported the pedal's specifications straight: a special-edition tuner with equivalent tuning to the TU-3, redesigned circuitry, and selectable buffered or true-bypass operation⁵¹⁰. Guitar.com's later tuner coverage named the TU-3W at $169 and pointed players to it specifically when true bypass is the requirement⁶.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

News

Questions