Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board or PCB is a board made from some kind of insulating material that has conductive material printed on it to serve as electrical wires. The boards are made with holes and are then populated with electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, vacuum tube sockets, and integrated circuits.
The advantages of PCBs are quick and easy construction and the ability to miniaturize complex circuits. The main disadvantage is that they can be less easy to repair, when compared to other methods such as point-to-point wiring. Some musicians clain that the tone carried in signals suffers when passing through PCB etchings as opposed to traditional wire.