Distorted Tone

Iron Man

Black Sabbath

Bassmetal1970s

Original Gear

BassFender Precision Bass

AmpLaney Supergroup (early 1970s tube head, likely LA100BL or LA50BL)

PickupsSplit single-coil (Precision configuration)

Amp Settings

gain6

bass5.5

mid6.5

treble6

presence6

compression3

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1970, Paranoid album. Bass amp likely Laney Supergroup, possibly mic'd with some DI blend. Geezer Butler played a Fender Precision Bass with passive electronics.

Tone Character(9)

growly midrangeraspy, fuzzy overdriveaggressive pick attackdeep and punchy low endslightly scooped midsclanky upper midsvintage tube breakupsustained, saturated notesraw, uncompressed dynamics

Difficulty

The main challenge is maintaining a steady, aggressive pick attack to drive the amp into overdrive and match the song's iconic riff. The line itself is rhythmically simple but requires tight timing and energy.

Sources

My thoughts about Geezer Butler's tone on first 2 Sabbath albums Sound settings Black Sabbath : r/Bass Did the bassist of black sabbath play the ending part of iron man ...NIB amp settings? : r/blacksabbath

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