Paranoid amp settings — Kinsman Kinsman

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Kinsman Kinsman with a Fender Vintera 60s Stratocaster. Studio version, Paranoid album (1970), standard E tuning

Original rig

Gibson SG Standard (bridge humbucker) → Dallas Rangemaster treble booster → Laney LA100BL (normal channel, cranked)

Aggressive, biting midrange crunch with treble-boosted attack and minimal low-end

Amp settings — Kinsman Kinsman

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

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

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Treble Booster (TC Electronic Spark Booster or similar)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. A Rangemaster-style treble booster is essential to this tone. Budget options: TC Electronic Spark Mini, Electro-Harmonix LPB-1, or any Rangemaster clone. Without this pedal, push amp gain to 9 and treble to 8, but the tone will lack the characteristic sizzle and compression.

Gain 6 · Level 7 · Bass 3 · Treble 8

Why these settings

Your Strat's single-coil bridge pickup is brighter and thinner than Iommi's SG humbucker. I've dropped treble from 10 to 7 and boosted bass from 0 to 2 to compensate for the output difference. Mid stays high at 8 to capture that nasal Sabbath bark. The Kinsman is a basic solid-state amp with limited gain, so a treble booster pedal is critical to hit the saturated crunch Iommi got from pushing his Laney.

PRO TIPDig in hard with your pick right over the bridge pickup pole pieces — Iommi's attack was aggressive and percussive. If the Strat sounds too thin, try angling your pick so more surface area hits the string; this fattens single-coil tone without gear changes.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Kinsman Kinsman. 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.