TC Electronic PolyTune Mini

The TC Electronic PolyTune Mini is a polyphonic tuner pedal introduced at NAMM 2012, two years after TC Electronic first brought polyphonic tuning to the world with the original PolyTune¹. It is, in Premier Guitar's words, "essentially a standard PolyTune model that's shrunken for the space-conscious player," built on the exact same technology as the original but at a third of the size, so it fits on any pedalboard¹².

What makes it polyphonic is that you can strum all six strings at once and the pedal shows you the tuning state of every string simultaneously, instead of picking each string in turn. It measures 51mm wide by 93mm front-to-back, and MusicRadar described its look as a design that "wouldn't look out of place in the Apple Store"³.

Polyphonic tuning at a third of the size

The core idea carried over from the original PolyTune: the pedal automatically switches between chromatic and polyphonic modes depending on whether you strum all strings at once or pick each string individually¹. The display uses six LED "columns," one for each string, to detect your tuning: green is in tune, above is sharp, below is flat³.

TC's guitar product manager said the company's goal with the shrink was that "we didn't want to compromise on features in any way"¹. Guitar World's reviewer, Chris Gill, found that goal largely met in practice: "The bright display and Polyphonic mode let you tune up astonishingly quickly and accurately"⁶.

Tuning modes: polyphonic, needle and stream

Beyond polyphonic mode, the Mini carries two separate chromatic tuning modes, which Guitar World described as catering to individual preferences and needs: needle mode and stream mode⁷. Chromatic tuning runs at 0.5 cent accuracy².

The Mini also shipped with the new version of the PolyTune software, which added Capo Tuning and what Premier Guitar called "a massively requested Drop-D mode"². Drop-D support had first come to the original PolyTune in 2011 through a free software update, which TC described as meeting "the single most demanded feature"⁸. The reference pitch can be set to your preference and ranges from 435Hz to 445Hz⁷.

All of the tuning modes are accessed from a small gray button on the top right side of the pedal².

Power: 9V, no battery, no power output

The Mini requires a 9V power supply at all times, drawing 100mA, so batteries are not an option and the supply is not included²⁵³. Two conveniences of the full-size pedals were cut along with the size: the Mini has no daisy-chain power output jack, so you cannot use it to feed power to your other pedals, and it cannot be updated over USB because there is no USB socket²³.

By comparison, the full-size PolyTune 2 can run on a nine-volt battery or a power adapter, and it includes a nine-volt DC output for powering other pedals⁹¹⁰.

From the original PolyTune to the PolyTune 3 Mini

The Mini line continued after the 2012 original. A limited-edition PolyTune Noir version followed in late 2012, with the same drop-D and capo modes and true-bypass circuitry¹¹. In 2014 TC announced the PolyTune 2 Mini, which kept the original Chromatic Tuning Mode and True Bypass¹²; Premier Guitar's review called it "Bright, fast, accurate, small, and inexpensive" and concluded "the PolyTune 2 Mini is a winner"¹³. That Pedal Show later listed the PolyTune 2 Mini among pedals in one of its videos, noting it is no longer made.

In April 2019 TC announced the PolyTune 3 Mini, taking cues, as Guitar World put it, from the major-league success of the previous PolyTune Mini¹⁴¹⁵. It shares the feature set of the larger PolyTune 3, including polyphonic, chromatic and strobe modes, a built-in switchable "studio-grade" buffer, and two small dipswitches on the side used to toggle between True or Buffered Bypass and a new always-on mode¹⁴¹⁶. Its launch price was listed as TBA at the time of the announcement¹⁷.

What reviewers said

MusicRadar's reviewer found the Mini "jumps seamlessly between the two modes" of polyphonic and chromatic tuning, and despite the lack of a daisy-chain power output and USB socket, concluded "it's still the cutest, best value tuner we can think of for the price"³. Premier Guitar noted the trade-offs of the small format, the removed power jack and the mandatory power supply, but highlighted the retained feature set, including chromatic tuning with 0.5 cent accuracy and the Drop-D and Capo modes². Guitar World's Chris Gill summed up the appeal for board builders: the Mini puts "the PolyTune pedal's features in a box that's about half the size of the already compact original"⁶.

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