TC Electronic Polytune Noir Mini 2

The TC Electronic Polytune Noir Mini 2, known to players as the PolyTune 2 Noir, is a black-finished version of the TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Mini, the company's compact polyphonic tuner pedal. It is a polyphonic tuner pedal with all of the functions of the PolyTune 2 Mini, housed in a black enclosure¹.

TC Electronic's own description of the pedal sums up what it offers:

What it does

Polyphonic tuning is the feature that sets the PolyTune line apart from ordinary chromatic pedal tuners: you strum all open strings at once and the pedal shows which strings are out of tune, then you switch to single-string mode to fine-tune. The PolyTune 2 Noir carries the same tuning functions as the PolyTune 2 Mini, which still features the original chromatic tuning mode alongside the polyphonic and strobe modes¹. The strobe mode is the most precise of the three, and RockBoard's PedalPedia describes it as highly accurate².

Earlier and later Noir and Mini versions

The Noir treatment began before the PolyTune 2. In October 2012, Vintage Guitar reported that TC Electronic would soon offer a limited-edition version of its PolyTune Mini pedalboard tuner, finished in black, that would display the same number of LEDs as the original PolyTune and also have drop-D and capo modes³. Guitar Interactive described the original PolyTune Noir as an exclusive version of the PolyTune Mini, available as an exclusive limited run⁴.

The PolyTune 2 Noir then followed as a black version of the PolyTune 2 Mini, with the same functions¹. TC Electronic's product page notes that "the first POLYTUNE NOIR raised the bar for how über-cool a tuner could be with its compact design and sleek black look"².

The line continued in 2019 with the PolyTune 3 Mini and PolyTune 3 Noir, announced on 17 April 2019 as two new compact additions to the PolyTune family⁵. Guitar.com described the 3 Noir as a dark-themed version of the Polytune 3 Mini⁶.

How the PolyTune 3 Noir differs

The 2019 PolyTune 3 Noir added features the earlier Noir pedals did not have. It has a built-in switchable buffer that MusicRadar described as "studio-grade"⁵, a 108-LED display⁷, and an always-on mode: as TC Electronic puts it, "With POLYTUNE 3 NOIR's always-on mode, you never have to miss a beat"⁸. At its announcement, the PolyTune 3 Mini and 3 Noir were due Spring/Summer 2019 at a price to be confirmed⁵.

The buffer matters to players with long pedalboard signal chains, since it keeps the signal strong through many true-bypass pedals. The PolyTune 3 Noir has a built-in switchable, "studio-grade" buffer, while the PolyTune 2 Noir covered by this page is described as a polyphonic tuner pedal with the functions of PolyTune 2 Mini⁵¹.

In use

A TC Electronic PolyTune Mini Noir appears in the gear list of a That Pedal Show episode from 30 April 2021, alongside the uni-vibe and harmonic tremolo pedals being compared⁹, which gives a sense of how the compact black tuners have stayed on real pedalboards years after their release.