need help setting my tuner for my bass

[kingpin101]

i just got this tuner and its an old one and it has dif freqencys to set it at but i dont know which one to set it to?
the freqencys range from 410 to 480

[chris661]

A 440Hz reference is standard. Others can be used, but I don't know enough to comment on those.

Chris

[jimirb]

440 is standard as Chris says. 440 hertz is the concert pitch for the "A" string on a guitar or a bass. In the old days before electronic tuners, we used a 440 hz tuning fork to tune the A string then tuned the other 5 strings to it.

[tinitus]

anyone ever experienced a speaker making it impossible to tune a bass ?

I have suspected it for a while, regarding how a normal stereo speaker sounds, or makes the music sound

the other day I connected my bass to a small guitar combo I have, and have been using
and found that it was completely impossible to play in tune, no matter what I did
but after at least trying to tune my bass, the poor instrument went completely wacko
completely unplayable
so bad I feared it would never be good again

then took the needed time to connect my 15" woofer
one hour of tuning, or more
and all seems fine again

food for thoughts, ehh ?

[indianajo]

Speakers that produce an out of tune harmonic can throw your ear off. Harmonics are supposed to be an even 2:1 or 3:2, but they aren't always. Guitar amps aren't known for producing pure tones, just fashionable tones. Harmonic distortion is not even specified on a guitar speaker. "Crunch" or overdrive, is magnified harmonic distortion. Try a hi-fi speaker and amp next time for tuning. Look at the distortion charts on my Peavey SP2 speakers- the harmonic distortion is way down at 1 watt (like in my living room). My ST70 amp probably produces more H.D. than those speakers.
If my piano is way off I can't tune the treble to the bass strings, the harmonics get in the way. Pianos have "stretch" that tunes the harmonics of the top octave, and leave the fundamentals of those keys a little off, because it sounds better. I think my Hammond H182 has "stretch", because tuning the Steinway piano to it made it really sound good. The Steinway hadn't been tuned since 1961, was waaaay off. Took seven passes to get the Steinway right, now it is great 20 months later.
I tune my guitar to a "D" pitch fork. They produce a very pure tone. I haven't tuned or played the guitar in three years, some guy came by last month and picked it up. After I got the dust off it, it was right in tune with the Hammond. Hammond tonewheel organs, of course, are set by the power company to very near A=440, with their clock motors.

[phase_accurate]

It is also interesting that it depends on the ratio fundamental/overtones when it comes to the susceptibility of pitch. I sometimes practice on my basses just acoustically and most of the time with a headphone amp and once in a while with a "real" amp just do do myself a favour. When I play my fretless ERB acoustically (where there is almost no fundamental present) it is sometimes very hard to play in tune while it is easier to play in tune via amp (well not always but more ofthen to be true ;-) ). And my feeling is that this is because the perception of "false" is more pronounced without the fundamental.

regards

Charles