KAC105
This is a lovely little tuner, created for use with a number of string instruments. When you've powered it up, you're presented with a typical tuner screen, along with a row of little letters. These represent the different settings for the tuner, allowing you to use it with a number of different instruments – C, G, B, V, Uc, and Ud represent chromatic, guitar, bass, violin, ukulele C, and ukulele D respectively. As I had a guitar and ukulele to hand, those were the settings that I was able to try. It was incredibly simple to find the correct setting and tune my instrument and the little indicator very obviously shows you what you need to adjust to get to the right pitch. Perhaps acknowledging the limits of the small screen, the tuner will helpfully light up green when you've tuned correctly – as someone who gamifies a lot of their life, little things like this never fail to delight me.
Indeed, the whole thing seems to have been designed to be as compact as possible, weighing in at an almost negligible 19g, and even arriving in a little cardboard box scarcely larger than the tuner itself. A slight grumble is that it was also in a little plastic bag which felt redundant to me.
At first, I thought that the head didn't turn, which would have been a bit of an issue, but it just seems to have been a little stiff, so make sure to give it a bit of pressure when you start using it. After playing around with it for a bit, it definitely got easier to move. On the whole, the build quality is impressive – for something so cheap, it definitely feels robust and should easily stand up to repeated use. Highly recommend keeping one of these in your case – I know I will! tinyurl.com/mt8-KAC105
KAC405
Straight away, you notice something is different about this tuner. With its rounded face and line of red light that lies across its face when it's at rest, it strongly calls to mind both the xenomorphs from the Alien franchise and Battlestar Galactica's Cylons. The whole thing is very futuristic, boasting a ‘revolutionary visual effect’ thanks to the coloured LEDs which make up its display.
It's difficult to describe in words, but once you've switched it on, you'll immediately notice what is being referred to – the coloured LEDs sort of wrap around the display and the way that they are arranged manages to create a sense of depth. It's quite lovely to look at and makes a change from the usual tuner fare. The aim when tuning is to turn the red line green by altering your pitch to move it up or down – the use of colours and the extended face make this much easier to interpret than many other tuners. You can also change the A4 calibration within a range of 436Hz-445Hz depending on your needs by cycling through using the power button – as a default, it's set to 440Hz.
As with the previous review, I tried this out with both my guitar and my ukulele and found it worked perfectly well with both of them. The head swivels with a satisfying click (amusingly, the tuner shows that the noise it makes is perfectly tuned to B when turning to the right, and G# when going left). However, while this can be used for string instruments, it's also been specially designed for use with brass and woodwind instruments, evidenced by its vertical display, which can be easily viewed while playing such an instrument. I asked my friend to try it with their saxophone and they were similarly happy with the result – I can see these tuners being a great asset to school ensembles and orchestras. At this price point, it's also ideal for multi-instrumentalists.
I found the grip to be a little stiff out of the packet and it took a noticeable bit of effort to get it to open – I wouldn't recommend this for younger players or for people who would find such an effort difficult. tinyurl.com/MT8-KAC405
Having worked with young classes for some time, I tend to find it useful to test out anything like this on a finger or earlobe as this is inevitably something that someone will try at some point. In the case of both tuners, the grip isn't hard enough to hurt and the flat plates on the clips mean that the pressure is properly dispersed – no undue risk of injury with these, though watch out for the lower clip on the 405 as the plate is detachable. In conclusion, a fabulous pair of tuners, perfectly priced for the market and each fulfilling its intended brief perfectly.
Many thanks to JHS for supplying these products for review. The URLs listed will take you to the product page on the JHS website.
