# Andy Summers Pedalboard 1979: Full Gear & Pedal List

> The 1979 Andy Summers pedalboard, pedal by pedal: Dyna Comp, Electric Mistress, Echoplex Tape Echo. Signal-chain order, settings and cited sources.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/andy-summers/walking-on-the-moon-studio-path/
- Machine-readable index of the archive: https://pedalboardarchive.com/llms.txt
- Evidence and reconstruction conventions: https://pedalboardarchive.com/methodology/

## At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Artist | Andy Summers |
| Board | Walking on the Moon studio core path |
| Date | 1979-01-01 — 1979 (year precision) |
| Context | Regatta de Blanc sessions |
| Scope | Core signal path |
| Signal path | 3 units · Guitar to amplifier |
| Routing | Serial path |
| Unit evidence | Documented |
| Order evidence | Reconstructed |
| Status | Artist-confirmed effects · order reconstructed |
| Audited | 2026-08-02 |
| Sources | 2 |

Andy Summers built the guitar sound of the Police's Walking on the Moon from three pedals in 1979: an MXR Dyna Comp compressor, an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress flanger and an Echoplex tape delay.

## Signal chain

**Order evidence — Reconstructed.** No source publishes this sequence; the order is reconstructed. The units are evidenced; their sequence is the archive's inference from the convention below, not an observation. Do not report this order as documented.

Reconstruction convention: Tuner → Wah and filter → Compressor → Overdrive, distortion and fuzz → Modulation → Delay → Reverb → Amplifier. A documented routing zone always overrides it.

`Guitar → Dyna Comp → Electric Mistress → Echoplex Tape Echo → amplifier`

| # | Unit | Role | Zone | Unit evidence | Position evidence | Catalog page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Dyna Comp | Evens the attack and sustain before the modulation and tape echo. | Front of amp | Documented | Reconstructed | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/dyna-comp/ |
| 2 | Electric Mistress | Creates the defining modulated color of the studio guitar part. | Front of amp | Documented | Reconstructed | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/electric-mistress/ |
| 3 | Echoplex Tape Echo | Turns played eighth notes into the repeated sixteenth-note figures Summers developed with The Police. | Front of amp | Documented | Reconstructed | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/echoplex-tape-echo/ |

## Reconstruction note

Summers explicitly names the Dyna Comp, Electric Mistress and Echoplex as the effects he had for Walking on the Moon, and separately describes the Phase 90 and later Cornish board as different stages of his rig's evolution. The interviews do not give a jack-to-jack studio trace, so compressor, flanger and tape delay are shown in a conventional reconstructed order. This is a song-session core path, not an inventory of the larger 1979 Cornish touring board.

## Questions

### What pedals did Andy Summers use in 1979?

This dated entry lists 3 units: Dyna Comp, Electric Mistress, Echoplex Tape Echo. This is the recorded inventory, not a claim that every connection or model identification is confirmed; see the evidence and routing notes.

### What order were Andy Summers's pedals in?

The complete order is reconstructed, not observed. The layout follows the cited routing constraints and the archive's signal-chain convention where the sources are silent: Guitar → Dyna Comp → Electric Mistress → Echoplex Tape Echo → amplifier.

### Is this Andy Summers's full guitar rig?

No. This dated entry covers 3 units in the effects path, not every piece of gear Andy Summers owned or used. Floor pedals, rack units and routing devices are included only where recorded; omitted equipment and uncertain connections are explained in the notes. It is not a complete or current rig inventory.

### When and where was this pedalboard used?

1979. Regatta de Blanc sessions. This is the core signal path documented for that period, not a career-wide gear list.

### How does the archive know what was on this pedalboard?

2 cited sources, listed above with the date each was read, including Guitar Player, Guitar World. Among them an interview. The units are recorded as documented equipment, and the page was last audited on 2026-08-02.

## Sources

2 cited sources across 2 independent groups. Two sources sharing an independent group report the same observation and count once.

1. [Andy Summers Reveals the Evolving Strategies That Keep His Creative Life Busy](https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/you-certainly-dont-want-to-be-looking-for-commercial-success-andy-summers-reveals-the-evolving-strategies-that-keep-his-creative-life-busier-than-ever) — Guitar Player (Primary source · interview), published 2023-04-14, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `andy-summers-guitar-player-first-person`
2. [Andy Summers on His Love of Jazz and The Police's Chemistry](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/andy-summers-the-police) — Guitar World (Primary source · interview), published 2022-03-25, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `andy-summers-guitar-world-first-person`

## Related pages

- Every documented board by Andy Summers: [Andy Summers board history](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/andy-summers/)
- [David Gilmour — PULSE / Division Bell rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/david-gilmour/pulse-division-bell-rig-1994/): shares Electric Mistress, Dyna Comp
- [David Gilmour — Animals-era Cornish board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/david-gilmour/animals-tour-1977/): shares Electric Mistress, Dyna Comp
- [Adam Jones — Tool touring effects board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/adam-jones/tool-dunlop-tech-board-2010/): shares Dyna Comp
- [Bonnie Raitt — Dig In Deep touring core](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/bonnie-raitt/dig-in-deep-touring-core-2016/): shares Dyna Comp
- [Bruce Springsteen — Magic tour remote and offstage rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/bruce-springsteen/magic-tour-remote-and-offstage-rig-2007/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Dynamics, Modulation, Delay & Echo)
- [Sonny Landreth — Blacktop Run signal path](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/sonny-landreth/blacktop-run-board-2020/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Dynamics, Modulation, Delay & Echo)
- Previous board in archive order: [Alex Lifeson — Rush Fifty Something digital rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/alex-lifeson/rush-fifty-something-digital-rig-2026/)
- Next board in archive order: [Angus Young — Hells Bells overdub and solo path](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/angus-young/back-in-black-1980/)