Riff Tone

Iron man

Black Sabbath

Guitarmetal1970s

Original Gear

Guitar1965 Gibson SG Special

AmpLaney Supergroup MK 1 100-watt head with Laney 4x12 cabinet (Celestion G12-25M speakers likely)

PickupsP-90 single coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain8

bass7.5

mid7.5

treble6

reverb0

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

boostDallas-Arbiter Dallas-Arbiter Rangemaster Treble Booster

Notes

Studio recording for 'Paranoid' album, 1970. Used a Dallas-Arbiter Rangemaster treble booster in front of the amp. No evidence of additional pedals or effects for the riff section. Settings and gear are for the original studio recording, not live.

Tone Character(10)

chunky and saturatedfat, fuzz-like distortiontight palm-muted chugsaggressive and percussive attackmidrange punchraw and powerfulthick, compressed soundslightly nasal upper midsclassic British amp crunchminimal ambience (dry studio tone)

Difficulty

The riff is iconic and requires tight palm muting and rhythmic precision, but uses basic power chords and moderate tempo, making it accessible to most intermediate players.

Sources

Tonal Recall: The Secrets Behind the Extraordinary Guitar Sounds ...Tony Iommi's Guitar Gear | Equipboard [QUESTION] How to get tone for Iron Man by Black Sabbath? - Reddit

This tone has been researched 44 times by the community

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account