War Pigs amp settings — Fender Champion 20

The Black Sabbath guitar tone for “War Pigs”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 20 with a Epiphone SG Standard. Studio version, Paranoid (1970)

Original rig

1964/65 Gibson SG Special 'Monkey' (P-90s) -> modified Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster -> Laney Supergroup 100W Head

Dark, heavy British crunch pushed by an aggressive treble booster with biting upper mids and a tight low end

Amp settings — Fender Champion 20

CHANNELBritish Voice (Voice knob set to British / 70s / 80s crunch)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	5
Treble	8
Reverb	2
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE9 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Dallas Rangemaster (Treble Booster)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; to mimic the treble boost with the amp alone, treble is pushed to 8 on the British voice

Boost 8

Why these settings

The Fender Champion 20 lacks a dedicated mid knob and presence control, so we use the onboard British voice to capture the Laney Supergroup crunch. Treble is dialed up to 8 to emulate Tony Iommi's modified Rangemaster treble booster cutting through your Epiphone SG's humbuckers, while bass is kept at 5 to prevent the 8-inch speaker from muddying. Adding a real treble booster pedal in front of the clean channel would be the ideal long-term upgrade.

PRO TIPTony Iommi used custom super-light string gauges (8s or 9s tuned down to E standard on this album) and picked very close to the bridge; picking firmly near the bridge saddles yields that signature biting, metallic upper-mid attack.

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These settings are for a Fender Champion 20. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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