Paranoid amp settings — Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3 with a Fender Player Plus Stratocaster. Studio version, Paranoid (1970)

Original rig

Gibson SG 'Monkey' with humbuckers, Laney LA100BL head into 4x12 cabs, Dallas Rangemaster treble booster into the normal channel, all amp EQ near max with no bass

Aggressive, mid-forward British crunch with treble-boosted edge and tight low-end — dry, direct, in-your-face

Amp settings — Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3

CHANNELOD1BOOSToff

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

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

Running as a treble booster substitute — low gain, high tone, pushing the front of the amp for that Rangemaster-style edge

Level 7 · Tone 8 · Gain 4

Why these settings

Iommi's rig was a hot humbucker SG into a cranked Laney with a Rangemaster treble booster — the booster did most of the gain shaping. Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output, so I raised bass +1 and pulled treble -1 vs a humbucker target to compensate. The BD-2 with low gain and high tone approximates the Rangemaster's upper-mid push. The ID:Core has no presence knob — that control is null. ISF should sit around 2 o'clock (British-voiced) for the Laney-style grind. OD1 voice chosen over OD2 for tighter, less saturated crunch.

PRO TIPIommi set his pickup toggle to rhythm (neck) for riffs and switched to bridge for solos — but on a Strat, the bridge single coil is thinner than his SG humbucker, so stay on bridge for the main riff and roll your tone knob to 6-7 if it gets too ice-picky; that replicates the darker humbucker voicing without losing attack.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Blackstar ID:Core 20 V3. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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