Tony Iommi — £500 · Sweet Spot Tone

• 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.

If you like Tony Iommi's tone, these players use a similar approach — same gear philosophy, comparable sound characteristics.