Sweetwater: it's a record!

Retailer attains Guinness World Records title for largest guitar effects pedalboard ever

Now officially the holder of the Guinness World Records title for the biggest guitar effects pedalboard ever...

Sweetwater Sound, inspired by multi-instrumentalist YouTuber Rob Scallon and with assistance from JHS Pedals, Keeley Electronics, Wampler Pedals and Temple Audio, have been presented with a Guinness World Records title for the largest guitar effect pedalboard ever assembled... or, to be precise, the largest functional pedalboard, based on the total number of guitar effect pedals in the same circuit.

The road to the new record began when guitarist Rob Scallon found himself in the Music Store at Sweetwaters headquarters in Fort Wayne, Indiana, trying to choose which pedals to include in his live rig and unable to make up his mind. He began to wonder just how big a pedalboard he could assemble... so that he could include all of the pedals he could see in the store. He took the idea to Sweetwater, who, together with their own technical staff, enlisted the help of the chief technical engineers at four major pedal companies and the support of 30 other pedal suppliers to make the slightly unhinged idea a reality.

The mega-board seen from above on the stage at the Clyde Theater.

Various strict conditions had to be met in order for the attempt to be eligible for a Guinness World Records title: for example all the pedals in the mega-board had to be commercially available from recognised manufacturers, all the pedals had to be functional, and all had to be connected to the board simultaneously in a single circuit, so any of them could be used at any one time. All in all, Sweetwater submitted 155 pieces of evidence to Guinness World Records before the title of Worlds Largest Guitar Effect Pedlaboard could be awarded - and Sweetwater added some conditions of their own, not permitting any duplicate pedals anywhere in the board.

All 319 effects and processors incorporated in the record-making pedalboard, seen from above.

The finished pedalboard incorporated 319 guitar pedals, 34 smaller pedalboards and power supplies, and over 500 feet of signal cabling connected in a single working circuit on a stage large enough to accommodate a 70-foot guitar pedalboard (at the recently renovated historic Clyde Theater in Fort Wayne). Sweetwater have calculated that the mega-board had over 1248 knobs and would cost over $90,000 to buy commercially.

Rob Scallon, originator of the pedalboard project, playing through the board when it was first switched on.

The achievement of the Guinness World Records title was celebrated by Rob Scallon himself, who played a specially created composition through the mega-board when it was first switched on, then by Sweetwater's resident guitarists Don Carr and Nick Bowcott, and was capped off by Alex Lifeson of Rush, who had dropped in to see what was happening. For more info about the record-making mega-board, see the link below.

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/guinness-world-records-pedalboard

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