Pedalboard Archive

Ritchie BlackmoreDeep Purple Guitar Rig, 1972

Ritchie Blackmore drove his Stratocaster sound with a Hornby-Skewes treble booster around the August 1972 Made in Japan shows, before he switched to the AIWA tape preamp.

Board
Made in Japan treble-boost path
Context
Deep Purple Japanese tour
Board date
Evidence
Documented equipment · 2 cited sources
Order
Source-described
Scope
Core signal path
Routing
Serial path
Audited
Signal
1 unit · Guitar to amplifier

Made in Japan treble-boost path

Suggest a correction

Your note on Ritchie Blackmore, Made in Japan treble-boost path is with the editors. Corrections are read by hand and checked against the sources before anything on this page changes.

The correction could not be sent. Nothing was lost — your text is still in the form below.

Spotted a missing unit, a wrong date or stronger evidence? Submissions are reviewed as research leads and do not become cited evidence automatically. Please do not include your name, email address or other personal details.

InputGuitar
Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster
OutputAmplifier

A source states the sequence

Inside the rig · 1 units

Pedal roles & evidence

How each unit fits Ritchie Blackmore's 1972 setup. Board-specific roles and the evidence behind each identification and position.

Cited sources

Source-described orderIdentity and position are evidenced separately. Reconstructed positions are not observed connections.

Gain

Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster

Role in this rig

Drives Blackmore's modified amplifier setup during the early Deep Purple years.

Identity
Documented
Position
Documented

Documented equipment · Documented order · Serial path

The booster is consistently documented for Blackmore's pre-1974 system. Amplifier modifications and tape echo routing are not shown because the surviving evidence does not expose a complete serial floor chain for every 1972 show.

Cited sources

Methodology
  1. Vintage GuitarRitchie Blackmore
  2. BSM Treble BoosterRitchie Blackmore gear archive

Questions about Ritchie Blackmore's 1972 guitar rig

What pedals did Ritchie Blackmore use in 1972?
This dated entry lists one unit: Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster. 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 Ritchie Blackmore's pedals in?
A cited source states the order: Guitar → Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster → amplifier.
Is this Ritchie Blackmore's full guitar rig?
No. This dated entry covers one unit in the effects path, not every piece of gear Ritchie Blackmore 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 guitar rig used?
August 1972. Deep Purple Japanese tour. 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?
2 cited sources, listed above with the date each was read, including Vintage Guitar, BSM Treble Booster. Among them a written article and an archive record. The units are recorded as documented equipment, and the page was last audited on 2026-07-18.