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John Lennon

Lennon was photographed playing through and operating an early silver wedge Pep Box while the Beatles worked on Paperback Writer and Rain.

Board
Paperback Writer session Pep Box path
Context
EMI Studio Three, London
Board date
Evidence
Documented equipment · 3 cited sources
Order
Cable-traced
Scope
Core signal path
Routing
Serial path
Audited
Signal
1 unit · Guitar to amplifier

Signal path / A

Paperback Writer session Pep Box path

Photograph-documented studio effect

InputGuitar
OutputAmplifier

Documented equipment · Cable-traced order · Serial path

Christie's dates Leslie Bryce's Studio Three photographs to April 14 and describes Lennon experimenting with the WEM-Rush Pep Box. Fuzzboxes identifies the enclosure from multiple April 1966 photographs and argues from the oversized panel and unusual cable position that this particular unit was probably the earlier germanium version. The single visible device is therefore secure, but neither source proves that its signal was printed on the released masters. The board represents the documented rehearsal and session experiment only; it does not attribute the final record's distortion to this pedal.

Cited sources

  1. Christie'sJohn Lennon Gretsch 6120 used during the Paperback Writer / Rain sessions
  2. FuzzboxesWEM Rush Pep Box: versions and John Lennon session photographs
  3. FuzzboxesSpotlight: The Beatles - documented fuzz boxes