Tony Iommi — £2,500 · Premium Rig

• Tune down at least a half step (Eb) — C# for early Sabbath, D for later material
• Use the neck pickup for maximum thickness on riff-based parts
• The Rangemaster boosted the treble into the amp — not a modern overdrive pedal
• Iommi plays with custom plastic thimble fingertips; use a slightly softer pick attack
• Power of three: palm-muted root, open power chord, tritone (the "devil's interval")
• Slow, deliberate picking tempo — early Sabbath riffs are slower than they sound
• Amp EQ: bass 7, mid 5, treble 6, presence 6 — dark but articulate
• String bends are minimal; Iommi's expression comes from riff and vibrato on single notes

• ✗Not exploring the Marshall DSL alone before adding pedals — a Les Paul or humbucker guitar into a British amp is already a near-complete overdrive system. Adding drive pedals on top is often unnecessary and muddies the amp's natural character
• ✗Scooping mids to compensate for the naturally mid-forward character — the midrange presence of an SG is the point. Removing it makes the guitar sound wrong for the style.
• ✗Scooping the mids on a Marshall-style amp — the upper midrange emphasis is what makes British amps cut through. Mid-scoop EQ sounds good alone but disappears in a band mix.
• ✗Using a distortion pedal to replace amp saturation — amp-driven tone has a specific feel (dynamics, touch sensitivity, natural compression) that pedal distortion cannot replicate. The source of gain matters.
• ✗Using single-coil pickups — the lack of output and mid-frequency push makes it impossible to achieve the tightness needed for high-gain rhythm playing.
• ✗Skipping the Tube Screamer-style boost — this pedal is not about adding gain. It focuses the low end before the amp sees the signal, which produces tighter palm mutes.

Gibson SG (tuned down to C# or D) into a Laney Supergroup 100W or Marshall, pushed hard by a Dallas Rangemaster treble booster. The downtuned strings combined with high gain and a dark amp voicing create the thick, menacing sustain. Iommi's custom thimble fingertips produce a slightly softer note attack than bare skin.