Paranoid amp settings — Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio version, Paranoid album (1970)

Original rig

Gibson SG Standard (bridge pickup) → Dallas Rangemaster treble booster → Laney LA100BL (presence/mid/treble maxed, bass at 0)

Bright, aggressive, cutting midrange crunch with no low-end mud—razor-sharp attack with sustain from the boosted input

Amp settings — Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier

CHANNELOrange Channel (Vintage mode)BRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	5
Bass	2
Mid	7
Treble	6
Presence	7
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Distortion (use as treble booster substitute)

Set gain LOW, level HIGH, tone BRIGHT—this mimics the Rangemaster's role as a clean treble boost pushing the amp, not as a distortion source itself

Level 7 · Tone 8 · Dist/Gain 2

Why these settings

Iommi ran treble/mid/presence maxed with zero bass on the Laney—but Rectos are already scooped and bass-heavy in the low-mids. I've compensated by pulling bass to 2 (vs his 0) because your Recto's bass control hits lower frequencies than the Laney did, and pushed mids to 7 to recover that nasal LA100 bark. Orange/Vintage mode is closest to the Laney's looser, less-saturated response. Your distortion pedal set as a treble booster (low gain, high output, bright tone) replicates the Rangemaster's job of slamming the front end.

PRO TIPIommi's attack comes from picking hard directly over the bridge pickup pole pieces with downstrokes—the Rangemaster brightened the signal, but his right-hand position added that ice-pick transient. Roll your GIO's tone knob to 8 if the bridge humbucker gets too harsh; Iommi's SG had lower-output PAFs compared to your ceramic humbuckers.

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These settings are for a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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