Due to their utilitarian nature, tuners are not subject to the same degree of gear lust as, say, an effects processor or combo amp. That said, Sabine's RT-7100 ($299.95) is about as sexy as a tuner can get. The unit offers chromatic tuning over a seven-octave range, a choice of Standard and Strobe modes, a Flat Tune mode (for lowered tunings), two ¼-inch inputs, two ¼-inch outputs (which are mirrored on the front and back), and flexible routing capabilities.

AROUND AND ABOUT

Housed in a single-rackspace unit, the RT-7100 is easy to use and to set up. Simply plug in a guitar, bass, or other stringed instrument and play a note, and the 17-step, mostly red LED display shows you whether you're sharp or flat (in increments of 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, and 45 cents). Once you've tuned a note correctly, the center LED lights up green, and the others turn off. I tried the tuner with an electric guitar, a bass, and a pedal steel (which has strings that span a wide range of frequencies), and it tracked accurately and easily in all cases.

I did have a bit of difficulty reading the separate LED that shows the name of the note being tuned. The engineers at Sabine wisely designed it to be large enough to be visible from across a stage, but LEDs such as this one are not well suited for forming multiple letter shapes. As a result, it's a little hard to read the LED until you get accustomed to it.

MODES AND ROUTING

When you switch the RT-7100 into Strobe mode, it digitally simulates the action of a strobe tuner, thus allowing finer adjustments. In that mode, the LEDs move almost constantly (left to right for sharp, right to left for flat), slowing down as you get closer to being in tune. Although Strobe mode will appeal to technicians doing setups, most users will probably prefer Standard mode.

If you have a multi-instrument setup, the RT-7100's routing and switching capabilities will come in handy. The unit's SmartSwitch circuitry detects your setup based on what's plugged in to the two input and two output jacks. For example, you could plug two instruments in and then use the optional RT-Ped2 footswitch ($29.95) to switch the tuner between them. You can route each instrument to a separate output or have both feed a single output. Even cooler, if you have a single instrument and two amps, you can use the RT-7100 as a switcher to route the instrument signal to either amp simply by pressing the footswitch.

The RT-7100 also has a built-in microphone for tuning acoustic instruments. For live applications, the built-in mic won't be of great use — it typically isn't quiet enough onstage to tune with a mic — but it is handy for the studio.

TUNE IT UP

Some musicians might blink at the RT-7100's price. However, if you do a lot of gigging and want a solid, accurate rack tuner — especially if you have more than one instrument in your setup — it should prove a valuable investment. Sabine also offers the RT-7000 ($219.95), which is the same as the RT-7100 minus the flexible routing, the built-in mic, some of the display features, and the front-panel output jacks. Personally, I'd spend the extra bucks to get the higher functionality of the RT-7100.

▪ Rating (out of 5): 4

Sabine, Inc.; tel. (800) 626-7394 or (386) 418-2000; e-mail sabine@sabine.com; Web www.sabine.com