In this section I’ll list some common problems and how to go about fixing them. If you’ve dialled in the amp settings in the examples above for a particular song and things sound a little off, there’s no need to worry. A compressor pedal may also be helpful to smooth out the tone and give you more sustain. Other pedals that you may find useful are a boost/ overdrive/ distortion pedal for solos, or just some kind of gain pedal if you’re running through a clean amplifier to give you enough saturation. Iommi also used a wah pedal in the earlier Black Sabbath days on songs such as “Black Sabbath”, “The Wizard” and “Electric Funeral”. Make sure you also check out the brand-specific amp controls guide which is relevant to you, to get the most from your rig:Ī treble booster is a good pedal to use if you’re going for Iommi’s tone and want to kick it up a notch for solos. Check out my complete guide to amplifier controls to learn how to adjust these controls and many more to get the best settings possible. Some amps also have other controls such as presence and contour. If you’re using single coil pickups then you’ll likely need more bass and mids compared to if you’re using humbucker pickups where you may need more treble instead. Also, the guitar’s natural tone will have a big impact too. It’s important to remember that different amplifiers have different EQ balances, so more or less treble/ bass/ mids may be needed for your rig. If the tone interferes with the vocalist too much and sounds too harsh you can turn it down, but if you’re struggling to get some clarity then it may need to be higher. Start with this on 6-7 and work from here. Tony Iommi’s tone wasn’t muffled, and a mid-high treble setting will help you to achieve this. The treble control adjusts the high-end frequencies and consequently, how bright and clear the tone is. Start with this on 6 and if the tone sounds thin, turn it up more, whereas if it sounds like it’s too dominating in the mix then you should turn it down. The mids control is very important for the electric guitar as this instrument is primarily responsible for this EQ range in the band. You should avoid it being too high to prevent the tone from sounding loose and muffled, but you need it high enough to ensure it sounds full. It’s a good idea to start with this on 5 for most songs and work from there. The bass control adjusts how full the tone sounds by affecting the low-end frequencies. For the most part, you’ll need fairly balanced EQ settings. Tony Iommi’s tone in Black Sabbath is full but still has a lot of clarity. Some amplifiers have separate bass, mids and treble controls and others have a single EQ/ tone control to help shape how bright and full the guitar sounds. Again, you’ll need to set the drive setting on the pedal on around 7 to start with and work from there. In this case, you can use a distortion, or possibly overdrive depending on the type of pedal, run through a clean amp. The other option is to use a pedal for the gain instead of your amplifier. If you have a tube amp then you’ll need to crank it very high to achieve the right level of distortion, especially if your amp has a lot of headroom. This will give you plenty of distortion and sustain, but should prevent it from becoming too heavy. If you have a solid state amp (most reading this probably will have this type), then you’ll want to start with your gain setting on around 7 for most songs. There are two main types of amplifier: solid state and tube (valve), and the settings you need will depend on which type you’re using. Tony Iommi used a lot of gain (or drive) to create a tone which was suited to ’70s metal. Before we look at some examples for specific songs, I think it’s a good idea to go through the amp settings which underpinned Black Sabbath’s overall tone.
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