Riff Tone

The Mob Rules

Black Sabbath

Guitarmetal1980s

Original Gear

GuitarGibson SG (likely 1965 model, with tremolo bar)

AmpModified Marshall Super Lead 1959 (modded by John 'Dawk' Stillwell, extra tube and master gain control)

PickupsGibson PAF-style humbuckers

Amp Settings

gain8

bass6

mid7

treble7

reverb0

presence6.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1981. The riff section was tracked during the Mob Rules album sessions in Los Angeles. Tony Iommi used his Gibson SG with a tremolo bar for the riff, plugged into a heavily modded Marshall Super Lead 1959 head. No evidence of pedals or effects beyond amp distortion for the riff section. No evidence of Laney amps or other guitars for this specific recording. No evidence of effects loop or outboard effects for the riff.

Tone Character(10)

thick and saturatedtight and percussivechunky palm-muted power chordspronounced low-end girthaggressive upper-mid bitearticulate note separationclassic British amp crunchminimal ambience/reverbfocused, punchy attackmetal riffing with clarity

Difficulty

The riff requires fast, accurate picking and tight palm muting at a high tempo, with precise chord changes and rhythmic control typical of classic metal riffing.

Sources

Tony Iommi's Guitar Gear | Equipboard Tony Iommi names his top 5 Dio-era Black Sabbath riffs | Guitar World Getting that Sabbath / Iommi sound | Page 4 Black Sabbath Mob Rules Tone | The Gear Page

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account