Here's a draft:
Roles
Player (1 or 2)
Judges (no limit)
Technician (at least 2)
Shootout sheriff
Equipment
Pedals (hidden from view of the players and from judges but not from the audience, technician, or sheriff)
A clean amp (preferably a Fender blackface type) and an overdriven amp (a Marshall type)
Pair of cables
Guidelines
Neither the judges nor the players will see which pedal is being tested at any given time. The technician will change-out pedals and amps, and make the necessary real-time adjustments. The sheriff will coordinate closely with the technician to ensure guidelines are followed. Sheriff will also announce when new pedals are being tested and at what settings.
Pedals will be set at unity volume and eq but will be tested for 6 minutes at various OD settings and on 2 amps: first on clean amp, one minute each at 9 o clock, 12 o clock, and 3 o clock drive setting. Then the technician plugs into the overdriven amp and does the same round of adjustments.
For proper comparison, a player should try to play the same licks, riffs, chords for the same settings on each pedal being tested
Judges will do their scoring on a matrix sheet to be handed out. The matrix will include pedals listed per row, and the various settings for both clean and OD amps as columns. Hence, in addition to an Average Score column, there will be 8 columns in the matrix.
The names of the actual pedals will be anonymous; the name key will be made and known only to the sheriff and technician who will sequence the pedals for testing accordingly.
A General Comments section will also allow judges to give their general impressions for each pedal.
