Paranoid amp settings — Fender Deluxe Reverb

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Fender Deluxe Reverb with a Fender Player Stratocaster. Studio version, Paranoid album (1970), Regent Sound Studios

Original rig

Gibson SG Standard → Dallas Rangemaster treble booster → Laney LA100BL (or Marshall Plexi substitute) into 4x12 cabs, bridge pickup, standard tuning

Grinding, trebly crunch with scooped low-end and aggressive upper-mid bite

Amp settings — Fender Deluxe Reverb

CHANNELNormal (clean channel)BRIGHTon

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	2
Mid	7
Treble	6
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	6

Don’t have a Fender Deluxe Reverb? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Treble Booster / Rangemaster Clone (e.g., EHX Screaming Bird, TC Spark Mini, or any clean boost)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This is essential to the Paranoid tone. The Rangemaster pushed the amp into breakup while cutting bass. A Tube Screamer with Drive at 0 and Level at 8 is a budget workaround.

Level/Boost 8

Why these settings

Iommi ran his amp with zero bass, all treble/mid/presence maxed—but your Deluxe Reverb is already naturally scooped and bright. I've raised mids to 7 to compensate for the Fender's mid-scoop, dropped treble to 6 to avoid ice-pick, and kept bass low at 2 to match his zero-bass approach. Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower-output than his SG humbuckers, so gain stays conservative—the recommended boost pedal is doing the heavy lifting Iommi got from his Rangemaster.

PRO TIPDig in hard with your pick right over the bridge pickup pole pieces—Iommi's attack was aggressive and percussive. Roll your Strat's volume to 7-8 for rhythm to clean up slightly, then slam it back to 10 for leads to push the boost harder.

Get this tone on your amp

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

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