Iron man amp settings — Marshall Studio Vintage SV20H

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Iron man”, dialed in for a Marshall Studio Vintage SV20H with a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster. Studio version, Paranoid (1970)

Original rig

1965 Gibson SG Special (P90 bridge), Dallas-Arbiter Rangemaster treble booster, Laney Supergroup 100W head cranked into 4x12 with Celestion G12-25M speakers

Thick, grinding mid-heavy distortion with hollow boxy honk, dark saturation with note definition

Amp settings — Marshall Studio Vintage SV20H

CHANNELHigh Treble input (single channel amp)BRIGHToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	10
Bass	3
Mid	8
Treble	6
Presence	4
Reverb	0
Master	7

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE6 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Treble Booster (e.g., BSM RM, TC Electronic Spark Booster set bright, or EHX LPB-1)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Critical for Iommi's tone. The Rangemaster cuts bass and pushes the amp into grinding saturation. Without this, the tone will lack the aggressive upper-mid bite and focused grind.

Level/Boost 7

Why these settings

Your Strat's single coils are brighter and thinner than Iommi's P90s, so bass is raised from 0 to 3 and treble dropped from 10 to 6 to compensate for the missing low-mid warmth. Presence reduced to 4 to avoid ice-pick highs. The SV20H is a Plexi-style amp like the Laney Supergroup, so the gain structure translates well — crank it. Roll tone knob to 6 to tame Strat brightness and approximate P90 darkness.

PRO TIPUse heavy downstrokes with your pick angled slightly and dig in hard near the bridge — Iommi's attack is deliberate and aggressive, not delicate. The Strat bridge pickup will fight you on thickness, so consider raising the bridge pickup height 1-2mm to increase output and midrange.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Marshall Studio Vintage SV20H. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.