Bass tuner

[Celticstar]

@akshayaku

Hey guys. I’m just starting to play the bass. I also play the guitar and generally use an app on my phone for tuning it. I was wanting to know if it was possible to use a phone tuner or would I need to purchase a separate tuner for a bass?

I also play guitar and ukulele and discovered my Snark tuner was not picking up the lower frequencies of the Bass reliably. I have a Behringer in-line tuner and it works just fine but I am not a pedal fan and so for home practice I just looked for an app for my Android phone.
I highly recommend the istrobosoft phone app, from Peterson, for iphone or Android, but would caution that although it works without the direct connection to the phone it works best with the interface cable and for $7 for the app + $40 for an irig2 interface I ended up with a great strobe tuner for a fraction of the cost of a standalone strobe tuner for hundreds of dollars.
Note: This was covered in a separate thread recently:

Do you set up your own bass(es)?

I’m asking because, although I’m new to the bass, I’m not new to DIY projects. I don’t mind having to buy a few tools that I don’t already have and I like the idea of learning to maintain and tweak my bass myself. Am I crazy?

@akshayaku

Also, do we need to connect the bass to an amp while tuning or can we tune without an amp?

No, you do not need the amp to tune. I usually tune without the amp even being turned on

Hope this helps.