A
Editorial standard
How the archive is built.
Use the archive to see what was on a guitarist’s signal path at a particular time, how confidently each unit is identified and where the route has been reconstructed.
- Dated
- Each board belongs to a documented moment or clearly labelled era.
- Traceable
- Published claims point back to independently originated sources.
- Explicit
- Uncertainty is labelled instead of concealed.
01 / In practice
See the labels on real boards
Evidence is useful only when it changes how you read a specific signal path.
02 / Evidence
What each evidence label means
- 01Documented
- An artist, technician or manufacturer explicitly names the unit or route.
- 02Visually identified
- A dated photograph or video makes the unit recognisable without naming it directly.
- 03Reconstructed
- Partial evidence and technical context support a likely identity or position.
- 04Tentative
- The available evidence supports a possibility, but not a reliable conclusion.
- 05Unresolved
- A unit or signal detail is present, but its model or role cannot be resolved.
03 / Sources
How sources are weighted
B
Specialist source
A reputable specialist publication, technical archive or editorial rig rundown.C
Community lead
A forum, database or community post that can guide research but cannot substantiate a published claim by itself.Every published board requires at least one independently originated primary or specialist source. Most rest on two or more, which is the standard this archive aims for; a board carried by a single source says so in its status line, so you can weigh it accordingly. Community sources are useful research leads, but never establish a claim on their own.
04 / Workflow
From source to published board
- Capture the source.Record its URL, author or publisher, date, type, access date and timestamp when applicable.
- Define its scope.Decide whether it shows a complete board, partial route, individual unit or broader era-level core path.
- Identify each unit.Separate the model, variant, visible controls and confidence from its physical position.
- Map the signal path.Distinguish cable-traced, source-described and reconstructed connections.
- Review before publishing.Check names, dates, duplicate models, citations, URLs and every certainty label.
- Audit again when evidence changes.Review annually, after a correction, when a source breaks or when stronger evidence appears.
05 / Signal order
How a reconstructed order is decided
Which units sat on a board and the order they sat in are separate claims, and the archive evidences them separately. A board can have every unit confirmed by its sources and still have a sequence nobody ever published.
- 01Cable-traced
- A source follows the cabling itself, so every position is observed rather than inferred.
- 02Source-described
- A source sets out the order without tracing each cable, usually a rundown, interview or the technician who built the board.
- 03Reconstructed
- The units are evidenced but their order is not, so the chain follows conventional signal-chain practice.
- 04Not applicable
- The signal path carries no pedals, so there is no sequence to establish.
Cables are always drawn as solid signal paths for legibility. The evidence note immediately below each board uses a check for a source-established sequence and a warning when the order is reconstructed. In that case, the units are placed in the conventional order of a guitar signal path:
Tuner → Wah and filter → Compressor → Overdrive, distortion and fuzz → Modulation → Delay → Reverb → Amplifier
A documented routing zone always overrides the convention. When a source places a unit in an amplifier loop, a switching loop or one side of a split path, it is recorded there whatever the convention would suggest.
The convention describes ordinary practice, not this guitarist’s board. Publishing it is the point: a reconstructed order is the archive’s inference, and naming the rule makes that inference something a reader can weigh, and disagree with, instead of a silent guess.
06 / Corrections
When evidence conflicts or runs out
When credible sources disagree, the archive records the disagreement rather than silently choosing a convenient answer. A board may retain a tentative or unresolved unit until the available image, interview or technical record can settle it.
Missing evidence is not evidence of absence. Direct paths and incomplete boards are described only as far as their sources allow; they never become claims that an artist never used an effect elsewhere.
Explore the archive
Start with a dated signal path.
Browse artists by their latest documented pedalboard or find the boards that use a specific effect.