N.I.B. amp settings — Marshall MG50FX

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “N.I.B.”, dialed in for a Marshall MG50FX with a Gibson SG Standard 61. Studio version, Black Sabbath (1970) — adapting Geezer Butler's iconic 'Bassically' intro and main bassline riff

Original rig

Fender Precision Bass (split single-coil, dead roundwound/flatwound strings) → wah pedal → Laney LA100BL tube stack cranked into power-amp breakup

Thick, overdriven bass grind with vocal wah sweeps, warm wooly low-end, and punchy mid bark

Amp settings — Marshall MG50FX

CHANNELCleanBOOSToff

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

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Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE4 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Cry Baby Kirk Hammett Wah

Engaged for the 'Bassically' intro; sweep slowly from heel to toe for the vocal filter effect, then bypass for the main riff

02Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

GAIN SOURCE: mimics the cranked Laney LA100BL power tube saturation without cutting low frequencies

Level 6 · Tone 3 · Gain 6

Why these settings

Because you are translating a vintage cranked tube bass rig to an electric guitar through a solid-state Marshall MG50FX, the Boss BD-2 serves as the primary drive stage running into the Clean channel to retain low-end body without harsh solid-state clipping. The MG50FX EQ pushes bass and mids to 7 while backing treble down to 4 to recreate the dead-string warmth of a P-Bass through a 4x12 cabinet. The neck pickup with the tone rolled down to 4 cuts pick bite and emulates the thumpy fundamental of Geezer's fingerstyle attack. Main riff: click the wah off, leave the BD-2 on.

PRO TIPPluck directly over the neck joint using the flesh of your fingers rather than a pick, digging in hard on the E and A strings to generate the percussive fret-clack essential to Geezer's tone.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Marshall MG50FX. 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.