Paranoid amp settings — Behringer Ha40

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Behringer Ha40 with a Jackson Soloist Pro. Studio version, Paranoid album (1970)

Original rig

Gibson SG Standard → Dallas Rangemaster treble booster → Laney LA100BL heads into 4x12 cabs, inputs overloaded for extra gain

Aggressive, midrange-heavy crunch with searing treble bite and no low-end mud

Amp settings — Behringer Ha40

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	8
Bass	2
Mid	8
Treble	7
Presence	7
Reverb	0
Master	6

Don’t have a Behringer Ha40? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Treble Booster (e.g., TC Electronic Spark Mini or EHX LPB-1)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Critical to the Iommi sound; a Rangemaster-style booster or any clean boost with treble emphasis will push the amp into that searing, cutting tone. Without this, the tone will lack the aggressive bite.

Level/Gain 7

Why these settings

The Behringer HA40 is a solid-state practice amp with a fundamentally different voicing than Iommi's cranked tube Laneys. I've pushed gain to 8 to compensate for the lack of tube breakup, kept bass at 2 (Iommi used zero bass on his Laneys), and maxed mids at 8 to replicate his mid-forward attack. Your Jackson's hot humbuckers will help drive the front end harder than Iommi's lower-output SG pickups, partially compensating for the missing treble booster.

PRO TIPIommi's attack came from picking hard directly over the bridge pickup pole pieces with a heavy pick. Angle your pick about 45 degrees and dig in aggressively on downstrokes—the percussive 'chunk' is as much technique as gear.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Behringer Ha40. 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.