The secrets behind Tony Iommi's classic Black Sabbath guitar tone

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath
(Image credit: Brill/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Tony Iommi's "Monkey" 1964 Gibson SG Special is, of course, an integral element of the sound that spearheaded heavy metal on Black Sabbath's pioneering early works - and it's something we've grilled the riff-master about at length.

But no study of Iommi’s seminal early sound would be complete without making mention of his amp and effects setup, which is simple but pivotal to its menacing sonic presence. Simon Fraser-Clark of Laney talks us through the rig that changed the world...

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Jamie Dickson

Jamie Dickson is Editor-in-Chief of Guitarist magazine, Britain's best-selling and longest-running monthly for guitar players. He started his career at the Daily Telegraph in London, where his first assignment was interviewing blue-eyed soul legend Robert Palmer, going on to become a full-time author on music, writing for benchmark references such as 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Dorling Kindersley's How To Play Guitar Step By Step. He joined Guitarist in 2011 and since then it has been his privilege to interview everyone from B.B. King to St. Vincent for Guitarist's readers, while sharing insights into scores of historic guitars, from Rory Gallagher's '61 Strat to the first Martin D-28 ever made.