Guitarist
Tony Iommi's amp settings and rig, album by album
Tony Iommi is Black Sabbath's co-founder, guitarist and main composer. His rig on 5 records and periods from Black Sabbath (1970) on, with the sources for each, and 5 of his songs with starting points.
What amp does Tony Iommi use?
Tony Iommi's early Black Sabbath sound came from a Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups, a Laney amp and a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster modified by a musician from another band, which Laney later found had been turned into a full-range boost. He used that booster on all the early Sabbath albums to push the Laney into overdrive, and chose Laney, a Birmingham company, because it offered gear when nobody else did. On Master of Reality (1971) he tuned down a step and a half on three songs to make playing less painful after a factory accident cost him two fingertips. On Heaven and Hell (1980) he played Marshall 1959 Super Leads, rebuilt with an extra gain stage so he no longer needed the booster, and on 13 (2013) his own Laney TI100 alongside EVH 5150III heads. His main guitar on every album after Heaven and Hell is Old Boy, an SG built by John Diggins. The table below goes record by record, with the sources for each.
Tonelify's library has 5 songs with Tony Iommi on guitar, each with a reference starting point on a generic five-knob amp. All of them start at Gain 7, so the differences are in the EQ, the pickup and the effects.
Sources: Guitar.com: the gear Tony Iommi used on Black Sabbath's debut album; Wikipedia: Master of Reality; Guitar.com: the gear Tony Iommi used on Heaven and Hell; Noisecreep: Tony Iommi's gear on 13, from his Guitar World interview; Guitar World: Mike Exeter on Tony Iommi's tone
Tony Iommi's rig by album
| Record | Guitar | Amp | Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Sabbath1970 | GuitarA white Fender Stratocaster until a pickup failed, then a Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups | AmpA Laney LA100 BL by Guitar.com's account; the songs were written on a 50-watt Marshall | EffectsA Dallas Rangemaster treble booster, modified |
| Paranoid1970 | Guitar1965 Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups | AmpA 100-watt Laney Supergroup MK 1 head and a Laney 4x12, by Guitar World's account | EffectsThe modified Rangemaster |
| Master of Reality1971 | GuitarGibson SG, tuned down a step and a half on three songs | AmpLaney; by 1974 four 100-watt Laneys into six 4x12s on stage, one 100-watt Laney stack in the studio | EffectsThe Rangemaster, reworked by the band's roadies by 1974 |
| Heaven and Hell1980 | GuitarOld Boy, an SG built by John Diggins, on the overdubs; likely Monkey, his 1965 SG Special, on the first sessions | AmpMarshall 1959 Super Leads, six of them rebuilt by John "Dawk" Stillwell with an extra gain stage | EffectsA delay on the solo of Heaven and Hell; no treble booster |
| 132013 | GuitarA handful of his Jaydee-built Old Boy SGs; none of his custom Gibsons | AmpHis own Laney TI100, after Rick Rubin's old Laney Klipp blew up, and EVH 5150III heads | EffectsA treble booster in front of the TI100, an unknown chorus pedal, an old Tycobrahe wah |
From interviews with Tony Iommi, producers and guitar techs, and from gear histories. Where they disagree, the table gives both accounts. Each row's sources are in its section below.
1970
What amp did Tony Iommi use on the first Black Sabbath album?
Accounts of the sessions differ. Iommi remembers a single twelve-hour session on October 16, 1969, Guitar.com says; Wikipedia has Evil Woman recorded on November 10 at Trident Studios and the rest in one 12-hour session on November 17 at Regent Sound.
He began on a white Fender Stratocaster until a malfunctioning pickup forced him to finish on a Gibson SG he had bought as a backup and "never really played", a right-handed model the left-handed Iommi played upside down; a 1974 Guitar Player interview places the pickup failure at a show in Germany instead. Guitar.com cannot say whether that SG or Monkey, the left-handed SG he swapped it for, is on the album, but either way it was a stock SG Special with P-90 pickups.
"I think I was using Marshall early on, and then Laney on the first album," Iommi said; the songs were first written on a 50-watt Marshall, and he switched to Laney because "they're a Birmingham company" and "they offered to give us all this gear when nobody else did." Guitar.com names a Laney LA100 BL, which Laney's Simon Fraser-Clark describes as "single-channel, very little gain, with a quartet of EL34s in the power section."
The drive came from a Rangemaster that "a guy from another band" had modified in Cumberland, when Iommi was playing in Mythology. Laney later found the mod was a swap of capacitor values that turned it from a treble boost into a full-range boost.
- Guitar
- A white Fender Stratocaster until a pickup failed, then a Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups
- Amp
- A Laney LA100 BL by Guitar.com's account; the songs were written on a 50-watt Marshall
- Effects
- A Dallas Rangemaster treble booster, modified
Black Sabbath songs in the library
- Behind the Wall of Sleep · distorted riffStart at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck (rhythm) pickup for the chords, per a 1974 interview.
Gear pages for this rig or its current versions: Gibson SG Standard, Epiphone SG Special.
Sources: Guitar.com: the gear Tony Iommi used on Black Sabbath's debut album; Wikipedia: Black Sabbath (album); Wikipedia: Tony Iommi; Guitar Player: Tony Iommi's 1974 interview on the SG and Laney amps
1970
What amp did Tony Iommi use on Paranoid?
Black Sabbath recorded Paranoid with producer Rodger Bain in June 1970, four months after the debut came out, at Regent Sound Studios and Island Studios in London. Guitar World's Tonal Recall feature describes a simple rig: a 1965 Gibson SG Special, the modified Dallas-Arbiter Rangemaster and a 100-watt Laney Supergroup MK 1 head with a Laney 4x12, in standard tuning with light-gauge strings.
It has Iommi in one of the Supergroup's bass inputs with the presence, middle and treble on 10, the bass at 0 and the Gain 1 control all the way up, and the Rangemaster cutting bass and working with the SG's P-90 bridge pickup for "thick midrange with a hollow, boxy honk." The 1974 Guitar Player interview describes the same EQ, presence, middle and treble on 10 and no bass, and the same settings in the studio as on stage.
- Guitar
- 1965 Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups
- Amp
- A 100-watt Laney Supergroup MK 1 head and a Laney 4x12, by Guitar World's account
- Effects
- The modified Rangemaster
Paranoid songs in the library
- War Pigs · distorted riffStart at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck (rhythm) pickup for the chords, per a 1974 interview.
- Paranoid · distorted riffStart at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck (rhythm) pickup for the chords, per a 1974 interview.
- Iron Man · distorted riffStart at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck (rhythm) pickup for the chords, per a 1974 interview.
Gear pages for this rig or its current versions: Gibson SG Standard, Epiphone SG Special.
Sources: Wikipedia: Paranoid (album); Guitar World: Tonal Recall on Iron Man; Guitar Player: Tony Iommi's 1974 interview on the SG and Laney amps
1971
Why did Tony Iommi tune down on Master of Reality?
Master of Reality was recorded at Island Studios in London from February to April 1971, again with Rodger Bain. On Children of the Grave, Lord of This World and Into the Void Iommi tuned down a step and a half to reduce the string tension and make the guitar less painful to play: at 17 he had lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his fretting hand in a sheet metal factory. The downtuning also gave what he called a "bigger, heavier sound", and Geezer Butler tuned his bass down to match.
He played with homemade thimbles, melted down from an old Fairy Liquid bottle and covered with leather cut from a jacket, and used banjo strings until Picato began making light-gauge guitar strings around 1970 or 1971. A 1974 Guitar Player interview describes his stage rig of that time: four 100-watt Laneys driving six 4x12 cabinets, a Rangemaster reworked by the band's roadies, presence, middle and treble on 10 with no bass, and the same settings through a single 100-watt Laney stack in the studio. On stage the band tuned to D for more depth, it adds.
- Guitar
- Gibson SG, tuned down a step and a half on three songs
- Amp
- Laney; by 1974 four 100-watt Laneys into six 4x12s on stage, one 100-watt Laney stack in the studio
- Effects
- The Rangemaster, reworked by the band's roadies by 1974
Master of Reality songs in the library
- Into the Void · distorted riffStart at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck (rhythm) pickup for the chords, per a 1974 interview.
Sources: Wikipedia: Master of Reality; Wikipedia: Tony Iommi; Guitar Player: Tony Iommi's 1974 interview on the SG and Laney amps
1980
What amp did Tony Iommi use on Heaven and Hell?
"On Heaven and Hell, I used a Marshall [model 1959 Super Lead]," Iommi told Vintage Guitar, as Guitar.com quotes him, with a delay on the solo of the title track. John "Dawk" Stillwell lived with the band while they wrote and recorded in Miami and rebuilt six Marshalls with an extra stage; of the treble booster he said, "You don't need that. You just go straight into the amp."
Iommi dates the end of the booster to 1979, when the man rebuilding his Marshalls threw it away; Guitar.com puts it in 1982, with a new tech. Mike Exeter, who has worked with Iommi for over three decades, says he had switched to hotter Marshalls around 1980.
Old Boy was built in 1975 by John Diggins, who worked for John Birch, as a backup to another custom SG-style guitar. It was used on the overdubs for Heaven and Hell and was his main guitar on every album after that. Monkey, the red 1965 SG Special with a P-90 in the bridge and a John Birch Simplux in the neck, had been used from the first album through the classic lineup, and Guitar.com thinks he was still playing it during the first Heaven and Hell sessions.
- Guitar
- Old Boy, an SG built by John Diggins, on the overdubs; likely Monkey, his 1965 SG Special, on the first sessions
- Amp
- Marshall 1959 Super Leads, six of them rebuilt by John "Dawk" Stillwell with an extra gain stage
- Effects
- A delay on the solo of Heaven and Hell; no treble booster
Gear pages for this rig or its current versions: Gibson SG Standard.
Sources: Guitar.com: the gear Tony Iommi used on Heaven and Hell; Guitar.com: the gear Tony Iommi used on Black Sabbath's debut album; Guitar World: Mike Exeter on Tony Iommi's tone; Wikipedia: Tony Iommi
2013
What amp did Tony Iommi use on 13?
13, released on June 7, 2013, was Black Sabbath's first studio album in 18 years, produced by Rick Rubin with Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine on drums. Rubin presented Iommi with a huge collection of vintage amps, among them an old Laney Klipp, which Iommi plugged in despite his own warning that it would blow up: "After an hour, it blew up." He plugged his own Laney TI100 into the bass channel, with a treble booster in front, and switched to the treble channel after Rubin told him his sound was "too metal".
After a brief spell with Engl amps on Heaven & Hell's The Devil You Know (2009), Mike Exeter says, Iommi moved to EVH 5150III heads and cabinets: "From 2009 to 2013 it was a mixture of the EVH and TI100." His guitars on 13 were a handful of his Jaydee custom-built Old Boy SGs; he used none of his custom Gibsons, and his only pedals were an unknown chorus and an old Tycobrahe wah.
- Guitar
- A handful of his Jaydee-built Old Boy SGs; none of his custom Gibsons
- Amp
- His own Laney TI100, after Rick Rubin's old Laney Klipp blew up, and EVH 5150III heads
- Effects
- A treble booster in front of the TI100, an unknown chorus pedal, an old Tycobrahe wah
Sources: Wikipedia: 13 (Black Sabbath album); Noisecreep: Tony Iommi's gear on 13, from his Guitar World interview; Guitar World: Mike Exeter on Tony Iommi's tone
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing.
What amp settings did Tony Iommi use?
The one set of numbers a named source has printed is below, with who printed it and how far it reaches. It is kept apart from the starting points above.
What amp settings did Tony Iommi use?
Volume, presence, middle and treble on 10 and no bass at all, with the guitar's volume on full, the toggle in the rhythm position for chords and in the treble position for solos. That is how a 1974 Guitar Player interview describes his Laney, and it says he used the same settings in the studio through one 100-watt Laney stack. The article explains the wide-open amp as a way round the different grounding in American venues, which left his Laneys performing below par. The interview came four years after Paranoid, so read these as his settings of that era rather than a note from the session.
Source: Guitar Player: Tony Iommi's 1974 interview on the SG and Laney amps · Song pages: Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Into the Void, Behind the Wall of Sleep
How do you get Tony Iommi's tone on your amp?
1.Put a treble booster in front
Iommi says his modded Rangemaster "boosted the input and gave it the overdrive I was looking for, which amps in the early days didn't have", and Mike Exeter says he was heavily dependent on it for the first eight albums. Laney's TI-Boost pedal is made to give the same tone, and Exeter would reach for a booster like the TC Electronic Spark rather than a Tube Screamer.
Sources: Guitar.com: the gear Tony Iommi used on Black Sabbath's debut album; Guitar World: Mike Exeter on Tony Iommi's tone
2.Use P-90s or pickups like them
"To sound like Tony, you generally need P-90s going into a thick, soupy sound," Exeter says. Monkey, the SG of the classic albums, has a P-90 in the bridge, and Guitar World credits the SG's P-90 bridge pickup, with the Rangemaster, for the thick, boxy midrange of the Paranoid era.
Sources: Guitar World: Mike Exeter on Tony Iommi's tone; Wikipedia: Tony Iommi; Guitar World: Tonal Recall on Iron Man
3.Two accounts of the EQ: try both
The 1974 Guitar Player interview has his Laneys with presence, middle and treble on 10 and no bass at all. Exeter describes the old single-channel amps the other way round: "crank the front, turn the treble, presence and mids down, turn the bass up and then stick a treble booster in front," which "only sounds right blasting through a 4x12 at full volume." The treble booster in front is the part both accounts share.
Sources: Guitar Player: Tony Iommi's 1974 interview on the SG and Laney amps; Guitar World: Mike Exeter on Tony Iommi's tone
4.Match the tuning to the record
Paranoid is in standard tuning with light-gauge strings; Children of the Grave, Lord of This World and Into the Void are a step and a half down; and in 1974 the band tuned to D on stage for more depth. Check the tuning before you blame the amp.
Sources: Guitar World: Tonal Recall on Iron Man; Wikipedia: Master of Reality; Guitar Player: Tony Iommi's 1974 interview on the SG and Laney amps
Tonelify rewrites any of these songs for the amp and guitar you own. Match a Tony Iommi song on your gear →
Tony Iommi gear questions
What amp did Tony Iommi use on the first Black Sabbath album?
A Laney amp pushed by a modified Dallas Rangemaster treble booster, and a Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups that he switched to when a pickup on his white Fender Stratocaster failed.
What amp did Tony Iommi use on Paranoid?
A 1965 Gibson SG Special, the modified Rangemaster and a 100-watt Laney Supergroup head into a Laney 4x12, by Guitar World's account, in standard tuning with light-gauge strings.
Why did Tony Iommi tune down on Master of Reality?
To make playing less painful. He tuned down a step and a half on Children of the Grave, Lord of This World and Into the Void to reduce the string tension on the fingers he had injured in a factory accident, and it gave what he called a bigger, heavier sound.
What amp did Tony Iommi use on Heaven and Hell?
Marshall 1959 Super Leads, six of them rebuilt by John "Dawk" Stillwell with an extra gain stage, which let him drop the treble booster, and Old Boy, an SG built by John Diggins, on the overdubs.
What amp did Tony Iommi use on 13?
His own Laney TI100, first on the bass channel with a treble booster in front, then on the treble channel after Rick Rubin called the sound too metal, with EVH 5150III heads and a handful of his Old Boy SGs.
What guitar does Tony Iommi play?
Gibson SG-style guitars. Monkey, a red 1965 Gibson SG Special with a P-90 in the bridge, was used from the first album through the classic lineup, and Old Boy, built by John Diggins in 1975, was his main guitar on every album after Heaven and Hell. He is left-handed and started the first album on a white Fender Stratocaster.
What treble booster did Tony Iommi use?
A Dallas Rangemaster, modified by a musician from another band in Cumberland before Black Sabbath; Laney later found the mod had changed capacitor values, turning it from a treble boost into a full-range boost. He used it on all the early Sabbath albums, until 1979 by his account or 1982 by Guitar.com's, and Laney's TI-Boost pedal is made to give the same tone.
What are good amp settings for a Tony Iommi tone?
On a generic five-knob amp, Iron Man starts at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1; Paranoid starts at Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1. These are starting points for the kind of part, not Tony Iommi's own settings. The one set of numbers a named source has printed is for Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Into the Void and Behind the Wall of Sleep, on the songs' pages.