# Ritchie Blackmore Guitar Rig 1972: Deep Purple Pedal List

> The 1972 Ritchie Blackmore guitar rig ran one pedal: Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster. Signal-chain order, settings and cited sources.

- Canonical page: https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/ritchie-blackmore/made-in-japan-1972/
- 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 | Ritchie Blackmore |
| Board | Made in Japan treble-boost path |
| Date | 1972-08-15 — August 1972 (month precision) |
| Context | Deep Purple Japanese tour |
| Scope | Core signal path |
| Signal path | 1 unit · Guitar to amplifier |
| Routing | Serial path |
| Unit evidence | Documented |
| Order evidence | Source-described |
| Status | Period-documented booster path |
| Audited | 2026-07-18 |
| Sources | 2 |

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.

## Signal chain

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

`Guitar → Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster → amplifier`

| # | Unit | Role | Zone | Unit evidence | Position evidence | Catalog page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Hornby-Skewes Treble Booster | Drives Blackmore's modified amplifier setup during the early Deep Purple years. | — | Documented | Documented | https://pedalboardarchive.com/pedals/hornby-skewes-treble-booster/ |

## Reconstruction note

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.

## Questions

### 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.

## Sources

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

1. [Ritchie Blackmore](https://www.vintageguitar.com/32424/ritchie-blackmore-3/) — Vintage Guitar (Specialist source · article), published 2019-05-24, accessed 2026-07-18, independent group `vintage-guitar-blackmore`
2. [Ritchie Blackmore gear archive](https://www.treblebooster.net/bsm-tonezone/ritchie-blackmore.html) — BSM Treble Booster (Specialist source · archive), accessed 2026-07-18, independent group `bsm-blackmore-technical-research`

## Related pages

- Every documented board by Ritchie Blackmore: [Ritchie Blackmore board history](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/ritchie-blackmore/)
- Previous board in archive order: [Richard Thompson — Ship to Shore electric touring rig](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/richard-thompson/ship-to-shore-electric-touring-rig-2024/)
- Next board in archive order: [Robben Ford — Vertex travel board](https://pedalboardarchive.com/artists/robben-ford/vertex-travel-board-2015/)