Peterson StroboStomp

The Peterson StroboStomp is a pedal tuner that puts a strobe display on a pedalboard. It comes from Peterson, a maker of highly precise strobe tuners, and its display works differently from the LED or needle tuners most players grew up with: instead of a needle sweeping toward the note, a ring of display segments appears to spin, and the note is in tune when the motion stops. Peterson calls this Real-Time Virtual Strobe technology, and it lets you watch pitch settle in real time rather than chase an average¹.

The payoff is accuracy. The original StroboStomp tunes to 1/10th of a cent, which Peterson describes as 30 times more accurate than LED and needle tuners¹. Beyond plain chromatic tuning, it carries preset temperaments, including Buzz Feiten settings, that nudge individual strings slightly off equal temperament so chords sound better on a real instrument. That combination of strobe accuracy and sweetened tunings is what set the StroboStomp apart when it arrived, and it grew into a whole line: the StroboStomp2, the StroboStomp Classic, the StroboStomp HD, and the compact StroboStomp Mini.

A strobe tuner in a pedal

Peterson built its reputation on strobe tuners, and the StroboStomp brought that display into a floor unit. The enclosure is heavy-duty die-cast aluminum, shaped to protect the LCD and the stomp switch, and the 3PDT footswitch mutes both the regular and DI outputs for silent tuning¹. In a review of the StroboStomp2, MusicRadar found it "admirably rugged with numerous stage-friendly features"².

The line has since earned a reputation at the top of the tuner pedal market. Reviewing the Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro at guitar.com, Cillian Breathnach called the Peterson HD and Mini line "pretty much the de facto high-end tuner pedals"³.

Preset tunings and temperaments

The heart of the StroboStomp, beyond the strobe display itself, is its library of preset tunings. The original carries six tempered presets including three Buzz Feiten settings, plus two temperaments you can program yourself¹. The idea carried through the whole line:

MusicRadar's reviewer of the StroboStomp2 was blunt about how well these work:

The StroboStomp2 also handles drop tunings down to four half steps and capo'd tunings up between the first and seventh frets². On the HD, Peterson lets you associate a color with any specific tuning preset, so you can identify your setting at a glance on a dark stage⁷.

Power and connections

The original StroboStomp runs on a 9V battery or a power-sharing 9V DC input, and its 9V DC output can feed other pedals, which makes it useful as the first box on a board¹. It draws less than 10mA when off in true bypass mode and about 65mA with the tuning display on¹.

Later versions changed the power picture:

• StroboStomp2: Battery or adapted mains powering, with a 9V DC output to power other pedals²
• StroboStomp Classic: 9V power connection, plus a USB port on the output side and Switchcraft input and output jacks⁸
• StroboStomp Mini: 9VDC or USB-C power, with top-mounted input and output jacks⁶⁹

The StroboStomp line: StroboStomp2, Classic and HD

The original StroboStomp set the stage-friendly formula the later pedals followed. Its heavy-duty die-cast aluminum enclosure is ergonomically designed to protect the LCD and stomp switch, and a quality 3PDT stomp switch mutes both the regular and DI outputs for silent tuning¹. It draws less than 10mA when off in true bypass mode, about 65mA with the tuning display on¹, and it listed at $189 plus shipping and handling¹.

The StroboStomp Classic carries forward the DI capability of the original. It offers two modes, one of them an active DI configuration: a mutable DI that, when engaged, mutes the DI and engages the tuner⁸. That gives a player a direct path to a mixing desk while still muting the signal for silent tuning between songs.

The StroboStomp HD adds several heavily requested user features, including a variable multi-color display, a pop-less true-bypass function, and a buffered output mode¹⁰. The variable display lets a player set the look of the tuner to their own preference, while the buffer option suits longer signal chains where a true-bypass pedal is not the right choice.

The StroboStomp Mini followed as a smaller version of the HD, with a small footprint, top-mounted jacks, 0.1 cents accuracy, and a C0 to A#8 note range⁹. Its bypass is switchable between true and buffered⁹, and its controls are two pairs of buttons on either side of the pedal that reach the sweetener tunings and every other feature⁶⁹. MusicRadar's Richard Blenkinsop called it "an excellent and very accurate tuner pedal that allows you to customise certain settings to make it really work for you"⁶, and Guitar World's review noted the premium metal casing, sturdy and silent switch, and a perfectly cut piece of velcro in the box for pedalboard mounting⁶⁹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions