# B.B. King Guitar Rig 1985: Full Gear List & Setup

> B.B. King plugged Lucille straight into a Lab Series L5 combo, with no effects pedals in the path. He endorsed the amp by 1981 and used it for decades.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/bb-king/lab-series-direct-rig-1985/
- 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 | B.B. King |
| Board | Lucille into Lab Series L5 |
| Date | 1985-01-01 — Mid-1980s–2000s (era precision) |
| Context | Long-running live rig |
| Scope | Core signal path |
| Signal path | Direct · Guitar to amplifier |
| Routing | Not applicable |
| Unit evidence | Reconstructed |
| Order evidence | Not applicable |
| Status | Documented guitar and amplifier · pedal absence unverified |
| Audited | 2026-08-02 |
| Sources | 3 |

B.B. King plugged Lucille straight into a Lab Series L5 combo, with no effects pedals in the path. He endorsed the amp by 1981 and used it for decades.

## Signal chain

**Order evidence — Not applicable.** No floor effects to order.

No pedals are documented in this signal path.

## Reconstruction note

King's interview, his 1981 Lab Series advertisement and Guitar Player's retrospective independently document the guitar-and-amplifier pairing. They do not prove that no floor device was ever present across this broad era, so no pedal is inserted rather than asserting a permanently pedal-free rig. The guitar's Varitone is an onboard control, not a pedal.

## Questions

### Did B.B. King use effects pedals in 1985?

No effects pedals are documented in this path. The archive records the guitar going straight into the amplifier, so the sound comes from the instrument, the amp and the player's hands.

### When and where was this guitar rig used?

Mid-1980s–2000s. Long-running live rig. 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 guitar rig?

3 cited sources, listed above with the date each was read, including Guitar.com, Gibson / Guitar Player archive, Guitar Player. Among them an interview, an archive record and a written article. The units are recorded as reconstructed equipment, and the page was last audited on 2026-08-02.

## Sources

3 cited sources across 3 independent groups. Two sources sharing an independent group report the same observation and count once.

1. [A conversation with the King Of The Blues, BB King](https://guitar.com/features/king-of-the-blues-a-conversation-with-b-b-king/) — Guitar.com (Primary source · interview), accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `guitar-com-bb-king-first-person-interview`
2. [My Lab Series amp takes all the bumps, and still gives a smooth performance](https://www.vintageguitarandbass.com/adDetails/500) — Gibson / Guitar Player archive (Primary source · archive), published 1981-05-01, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `gibson-lab-series-bb-king-advertisement-1981`
3. [Here's How to Replicate the Magic of the Blues Greats](https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/heres-how-to-replicate-the-magic-of-the-blues-greats) — Guitar Player (Specialist source · article), published 2022-06-30, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `guitar-player-art-thompson-bb-king-rig-2022`

## Related pages

- Every documented board by B.B. King: [B.B. King board history](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/bb-king/)
- Previous board in archive order: [Ariel Posen — Goodwood studio and travel board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/ariel-posen/goodwood-studio-board-2021/)
- Next board in archive order: [Billy Gibbons — European tour four-effect loop](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/billy-gibbons/european-tour-rjm-loop-2019/)