Paranoid amp settings — Roland Cube 40GX

The Black sabbath guitar tone for “Paranoid”, dialed in for a Roland Cube 40GX with a Pyle Pyle. Studio version, Paranoid album (1970), recorded at Regent Sound London in a single day

Original rig

Gibson SG Standard (bridge pickup) → Dallas Rangemaster treble booster (modified) → Laney LA100BL head with Presence/Mid/Treble on 10, Bass on 0

Aggressive, cutting midrange grind with zero low-end flub — raw and nasty proto-metal crunch

Amp settings — Roland Cube 40GX

CHANNELLEAD amp model (JC CLEAN won't get you there — use LEAD or CRUNCH model via amp type selector)

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

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Treble Booster / Clean Boost (e.g. TC Electronic Spark Mini, EHX LPB-1, or Joyo Roll Boost)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This is critical to Iommi's tone. The Rangemaster boosted upper mids and slammed the amp's front end. Without it, crank the Cube's gain to 8 and mids to 10, but you'll lose that sizzling edge.

Level/Boost 7 · Tone (if present) 8

Why these settings

Iommi ran bass at 0 and mids/treble/presence at 10 on the Laney — that's extreme. The Cube 40GX's LEAD model is voiced darker and more compressed than a cranked Laney, so I've set mids at max 10 to compensate, dropped bass to 2 (the Cube has more low-end than a Laney), and raised treble to 8 for bite. Presence stays at 0 because the Cube's presence adds fizz, not the harmonic complexity of a tube power section. The Pyle likely has lower-output pickups than an SG's humbuckers, so gain at 7 compensates.

PRO TIPIommi's attack is everything — he digs in hard with the pick angled slightly and uses heavy downstrokes on the riff. Practice the main riff with aggressive, consistent downpicking and let the open strings ring precisely as written. That percussive thump on the low E is half the tone.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Roland Cube 40GX. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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