Korg Pitchblack XS

The Korg Pitchblack XS is a chromatic pedal tuner from Korg, part of the long-running Pitchblack line. Its defining design move is putting the footswitch directly into the display: the whole face of the pedal is a meter you can read at a glance, and the switch responds wherever you press it, so you do not have to hit a specific spot on a crowded board¹.

It tunes across a wide range, offers four meter display modes including a ±0.1 cent strobe, and lets you choose between true bypass and a built-in buffer. It runs on 9V adapter power only, with no battery option²¹.

What it is and what it does

The Pitchblack XS is a floor chromatic tuner: you plug your guitar into it, mute your signal to the amp while you tune, and read pitch on a large LED meter. Korg describes it as a design with "a large display in a compact design," which is the practical pitch of the whole pedal: a small footprint on the board with a meter you can still see from a distance³.

It works on 12 note equal temperament, the standard tuning system for guitar and bass, and detects from E0 (20.60 Hz) at the bottom to C8 (4,186 Hz) at the top, which covers every note a guitar or bass can produce and then some².

The four display modes

Korg lets you pick from four meter displays to match how you like to read pitch³:

The strobe modes are the precision option. Korg specifies detection accuracy of ±0.1 cent in Strobe mode, and describes it as "highly precise and accurate tuning within a precision of ±0.1 cents when in Strobe mode"³. For context, a cent is one hundredth of a semitone, so ±0.1 cent is far finer than the tuning tolerance most players use on stage. Mirror mode is the more intuitive option for quick between-song checks: you watch two LED streams converge on the center as the note locks in³.

The footswitch built into the display

The unusual part of the XS is the switch placement. Korg's product page explains the idea¹³:

Because the switch is the display, the whole top surface is usable: Korg says the switch "responds wherever you press it, so you don't have to worry" about landing on a small target³. The housing has a powdered finish, and the pedal measures 70 x 80 x 47 mm including protrusions and weighs 198 g²³.

Power and connections

The Pitchblack XS is an adapter-only pedal. Power comes in through a DC 9V input from a 9V AC adapter, sold separately, with a maximum current draw of 40 mA²⁴. There is no battery compartment, so it needs a wall adapter or a pedalboard power supply.

Connections are simple: one mono 1/4" input and one mono 1/4" bypass output². Input impedance is 1 M-ohm with the tuner on, the standard value that keeps passive pickups sounding as expected². In the box you get notices and rubber feet².

The Ultra Buffer and true bypass

Most tuner pedals offer either true bypass or a buffered bypass, and each has a tradeoff. True bypass passes the signal through with no active circuitry when the pedal is off; a buffer actively drives the signal so long cable runs and big pedalboards do not lose brightness. The Pitchblack XS lets you choose, switching between true bypass and what Korg calls the Ultra Buffer³.

Korg's description of the buffer's purpose:

In practice, a player can leave it in true bypass, while someone with a large board or long cables can switch in the ULTRA BUFFER to preserve their original sound quality. See buffer pedals for how buffering works in a signal chain³.

Tuning bass, and the Pitchblack XS Bass

The standard XS detects down to E0 (20.60 Hz), which covers the range of a four-string bass and beyond². Korg also makes a sibling model, the Pitchblack XS Bass, aimed squarely at low frequencies. It uses a bass-specific tuner circuit "for precise tuning, even at low frequencies," and its detection range starts at C0 (16.35 Hz), which Korg notes covers over an octave below the bass guitar's low E string⁵⁴.

The Bass version shares the same core design: the same four display modes, ±0.1 cent accuracy in strobe mode, the same 70 x 80 x 47 mm enclosure, 9V adapter power at 40 mA maximum, and the switchable true bypass and Ultra Buffer⁴. Korg says its Ultra Buffer is "fine tuned with the bass player's needs in mind to deliver a fuller, more powerful sound"⁵. Its input impedance is 10 M-ohm, higher than the standard XS's 1 M-ohm⁴.

Where it sits in the Pitchblack line

The XS belongs to Korg's Pitchblack X series, alongside the Pitchblack X, Pitchblack X mini, and Pitchblack X Pro⁶. The line goes back through earlier models such as the Korg Pitchblack Advance, the Pitchblack Custom, and the compact Pitchblack Mini, all of which carry the same basic idea of a large LED meter in a pedal. The XS's distinguishing features are the display-integrated footswitch and the switchable Ultra Buffer.

For comparison shopping, chromatic pedal tuners in the same space include the BOSS TU-3s, the TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Noir, and the Peterson StroboStomp HD, the last of which is also a strobe-based design. More options are covered on the tuner pedals page.

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