Tone library / Black Sabbath / Paranoid

Paranoid amp settings — Kinsman Vintage 10g

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Kinsman Vintage 10g with a Vintage V69. Studio version, Paranoid album (1970)

Original rig

Gibson SG Standard → Dallas Rangemaster treble booster → Laney LA100BL (presence/mid/treble maxed, bass at 0, inputs overloaded for boost)

Aggressive, trebly crunch with scooped bass and biting upper-mids; raw, punchy British saturation
Amp settings — Kinsman Vintage 10g
GAIN 8 BASS 2 MID 8 TREBLE 9 PRESENCE 0 REVERB 0 MASTER 6
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain8
Bass2
Mid8
Treble9
Presence0
Reverb0
Master6
Don’t have a Kinsman Vintage 10g? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →
Guitar
PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10
Why these settings

The Kinsman Vintage 10g is a small solid-state practice amp with limited gain on tap—it cannot replicate the cranked valve saturation and treble booster of Iommi's rig. Gain pushed to 8 to extract maximum crunch from the preamp. Bass dropped to 2 (Iommi ran zero bass) to avoid mud on the small speaker. Treble at 9 and mid at 8 replicate his maxed treble/mid approach; the Rangemaster's treble push is approximated by the bright EQ and wide-open guitar tone knob. This amp lacks a presence control, so that's omitted. You will get a thinner, less saturated version of the tone—a boost pedal (even a cheap TC Electronic Spark Mini or Behringer TO800) would dramatically close the gap.

PRO TIPIommi picks hard right over the bridge pickup with a stiff attack to trigger that aggressive bite—dig in with downstrokes on the main riff and let the pick scrape the strings slightly for that raw, percussive chunk.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Kinsman Vintage 10g. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

Get ToneAdapt on Google Play
Find your amp
Browse
Paranoid on other ampsSAME SONG, YOUR AMP Black Sabbath tonesALL SONGS Tone libraryEVERYTHING

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.

Get ToneAdapt — first match free