Riff Tone

Solitude

Black Sabbath

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

GuitarGibson SG Special (early 1970s, likely 1965-1967 model, P90 pickups)

AmpLaney Supergroup LA100BL (early 1970s, 100W tube head)

PickupsGibson P90 single coil

Amp Settings

gain0

bass6.5

mid6.5

treble5.5

reverb3

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1971 (Master of Reality sessions). Tony Iommi is known to have used a Gibson SG Special with P90s and a Laney Supergroup amp for clean tones in this era. No evidence of pedals for clean sections; amp reverb likely used. No evidence of live-specific gear for this section.

Tone Character(10)

warm and mellowrounded neck pickup soundsoft and airysmooth, sustained notesgentle, natural reverbno audible distortionclean, vintage British amp characterclear note separationsubtle dynamics from fingerstyleslightly compressed, but not overdriven

Difficulty

The riff requires careful fingerstyle playing and dynamic control to maintain the clean, mellow tone, but does not involve complex chord shapes or fast passages.

Sources

Black Sabbath Guitar Tuning Compendium (Albums and Live) - Reddit [Question:] Amp and guitar settings for Solitude sound? - Reddit sabbath never sounds right on guitar : r/blacksabbath - Reddit

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