# Brian May Pedalboard 1977: Full Gear & Pedal List

> The 1977 Brian May pedalboard, pedal by pedal: BC149 Treble Booster, TB Extra Duplex, Foot Phaser. Signal-chain order, settings and cited sources.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/brian-may/classic-treble-booster-1977/
- 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 | Brian May |
| Board | Black plywood touring board |
| Date | 1977-01-01 — 1977-June 1982 (era precision) |
| Context | Queen live touring system |
| Scope | Exact board snapshot |
| Signal path | 3 units · Guitar to amplifier |
| Routing | Serial path |
| Unit evidence | Documented |
| Order evidence | Source-described |
| Status | Technician-documented three-unit audio chain |
| Audited | 2026-08-02 |
| Sources | 2 |

Brian May's black plywood touring board carried three units between 1977 and 1982: a BC149 treble booster, a TB Extra Duplex booster box and a treadle-controlled foot phaser, feeding his wall of Vox AC30s.

## Signal chain

**Order evidence — Source-described.** A source states the sequence.

`Guitar → BC149 Treble Booster → TB Extra Duplex → Foot Phaser → amplifier`

| # | Unit | Role | Zone | Unit evidence | Position evidence | Catalog page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | BC149 Treble Booster | Raises and brightens the Red Special before the two optional extra boosters and the AC30s. | — | Documented | Documented | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/bc149-treble-booster/ |
| 2 | TB Extra Duplex | Adds selectable extra gain after the always-on BC149 booster and before the phaser. | — | Documented | Documented | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/tb-extra-duplex/ |
| 3 | Foot Phaser | Closes the black plywood board with foot-controlled phase movement before the AC30s. | — | Documented | Documented | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/foot-phaser/ |

## Reconstruction note

Fryer Guitars documents this exact black-board order from conversations with Brian May, Pete Cornish and longtime tech Brian Zellis. Cornish's separate July 1982 system archive corroborates that the two boosters still preceded the Foxx phaser in the successor rig; it is not treated as a photograph of the earlier board. Echoplex footswitches controlled offstage parallel delays and do not carry guitar audio, so they are excluded. A CE-1 appeared beside the black board at its final June 1982 show and is outside this representative 1977-1982 chain.

## Questions

### What pedals did Brian May use in 1977?

This dated entry lists 3 units: BC149 Treble Booster, TB Extra Duplex, Foot Phaser. 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 Brian May's pedals in?

A cited source states the order: Guitar → BC149 Treble Booster → TB Extra Duplex → Foot Phaser → amplifier.

### Is this Brian May's full guitar rig?

No. This dated entry covers 3 units in the effects path, not every piece of gear Brian May 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?

1977-June 1982. Queen live touring system. This is one dated setup as documented, 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 Fryer Guitars, Pete Cornish. Among them an archive record and an official listing. 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. [History of Brian May's treble boosters and touring pedalboards](https://fryerguitars.com/history-of-brian-mays-treble-boosters-and-pedalboard-used-with-queen-from-1970-to-around-1986/) — Fryer Guitars (Primary source · archive), published 2019-07-03, accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `fryer-reynolds-may-rig-research`
2. [Brian May pedalboard, July 1982](https://petecornish.co.uk/bm1982.html) — Pete Cornish (Primary source · official), accessed 2026-08-02, independent group `pete-cornish-brian-may-archive`

## Related pages

- Every documented board by Brian May: [Brian May board history](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/brian-may/)
- [Mick Taylor — Two-pedal live rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/mick-taylor/spring-1998-two-pedal-live-rig/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Modulation, Gain)
- [John McLaughlin — Fourth Dimension touring effects](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/john-mclaughlin/fourth-dimension-touring-effects-2010/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Modulation, Gain)
- [Jimi Hendrix — Woodstock effects chain](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/jimi-hendrix/late-live-rig-1969/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Modulation, Gain)
- [John Squire — Stone Roses era board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/john-squire/stone-roses-era-board-1989/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Modulation, Gain)
- [Eric Johnson — Ah Via Musicom four-amp system](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/eric-johnson/ah-via-musicom-four-amp-rig-2018/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Modulation, Gain)
- [John Cipollina — Stereo split-effects rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/john-cipollina/stereo-split-effects-rig-1984/): no shared unit; a comparable signal path (Modulation, Gain)
- Previous board in archive order: [Bonnie Raitt — Dig In Deep touring core](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/bonnie-raitt/dig-in-deep-touring-core-2016/)
- Next board in archive order: [Bruce Springsteen — Magic tour remote and offstage rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/bruce-springsteen/magic-tour-remote-and-offstage-rig-2007/)