Iron Man amp settings — Fender Rumble 40

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Iron Man”, dialed in for a Fender Rumble 40 with a Fender Telecaster Thinline. Studio version, Paranoid (1970) — main riff tone

Original rig

1965 Gibson SG Special (P-90s) into modified Dallas-Arbiter Rangemaster Treble Booster into Laney Supergroup MK I 100W head and Laney 4x12 cab

Mid-heavy, gritty British crunch with tight bass cut and sharp upper-mid bite

Amp settings — Fender Rumble 40

CHANNELCleanBRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	7
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE9 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

Emulates Iommi's Rangemaster treble boost by cutting low mud and pushing upper mids into the fuzz

Drive 2 · Tone 8 · Level 9

02JHS Muffuletta

Gain source — use the 'Triangle' or 'Ram's Head' mode to capture the fuzzy Laney Supergroup power amp saturation

Volume 6 · Sustain 5 · Tone 7

Why these settings

The Fender Rumble 40 is a clean bass platform, so the Muffuletta acts as the core Laney amp saturation while amp gain remains low. The TS9 is placed first with low drive and high tone/level to mimic Iommi's modified Rangemaster treble booster, tightening the bottom end and focusing the midrange. Bass is cut to 4 on the Rumble to prevent low-end flub through the 10-inch bass driver. Low-mid set to 6 and high-mid set to 7 via the Rumble 4-band EQ.

PRO TIPTony Iommi played with extremely light gauge strings (.008s tuned to standard for Paranoid) and used plastic fingertip thimbles; pick right next to the bridge saddles with a firm, slightly angled attack to emulate that sharp, metallic snap.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Fender Rumble 40. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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