Sabbath fuzz

[Moonface]

Before I get into the business, I must say that I don't own 10 Laney Supergroup heads or 20 cabs and I haven't got a place where to crank them... So I need a great fuzz that produces a nasty fuzztone, something like the Children Of The Grave and Under The Sun Every Day Comes And Goes, if you know... These sounds can't just be produced with a f'king Rangemaster and 10 amps... I read some old posts and some bloke said that in an interwiew Tone or his tech has said that the Univox Supefuzz had been on his pedal section... So maybe that's where the crunch comes from... I can't even imagine that rangemaster and some crancked amps can produce that much drive...

[formerMember1]

i think he used a RM on early/1st? sabbath album or something, and after that plugged straight into the Laney heads and cabs for later years.(?)

His RM was suppposedly modifed by him or someone for lower range or more drive or something.... i think a bigger boost level pot(25K instead of 10K?) and lower input cap may do it maybe...

just rambling,

[Sir H C]

A superfuzz has octave in it, not what you hear for most Sabbath.  I have a Supergroup and they have a very Marshall sound (circuit is very similar) but with more kick from the high voltages and the Partridge transformers.  So, if you have a good Marshall-eque amp, you can start.  From there, a lot of the stuck wah sound is going on.  He supposedly used the Tychobrahe, but I don't know for sure.  So if you want that sound, I would go with something in a mid gain distortion, Marshall Guv'nor-like, and put the wah in there to give that extra honk to the mids.  Also Goodman speakers that the Laneys usually came with have a very pronounced low-mid honk that also gives that sound.  

[formerMember1]

yep, just want to add too, that i heard in some interviews with Iommi that he has alot of the Tychobrahe wahs or something....

[brett]

Hi.
I would associate that sound with a low power amp rather than several high-power amps.  ie Angus and George Young in early AC/DC using Marshall 18W and 20W amps, and Jimmy page using little 5W jobs (in the studio).
If you have a valve pre-amp, you could drive the hell out of it by winding back your tone control and turning up the drive and volume on a Rangemaster. 
Otherwise, try a FuzzFace, FuzzRite, or Bosstone.  They're all heavy.  Another interesting one is the MFZ-1 that you'll hear on Black Keys albums.
cheers

[Skreddy]

Try a Big Muff, triangle-knob specs.  For that treble-boosted front-end sound, substitute either a .068 uf or a .047 uf cap on the input.

[Seljer]

yep, just want to add too, that i heard in some interviews with Iommi that he has alot of the Tychobrahe wahs or something....

I presume Electric Funeral was done with the Tychobrahe wah (and not some kind of envelope filter or something)?

however I only need to get myself a ring modulator of some sort so I can do the Paranoid solo

[tcobretti]

ie Angus and George Young in early AC/DC using Marshall 18W and 20W amps
cheers

I may be wrong, but I believe it was Angus and Malcolm Young.

[pyrop]

ie Angus and George Young in early AC/DC using Marshall 18W and 20W amps
cheers

I may be wrong, but I believe it was Angus and Malcolm Young.

True but it was probably under the influence of George Young, their big brother & 1 half of Vanda & Young, their producers at the time.

pyrop

[Skreddy]

I presume Electric Funeral was done with the Tychobrahe wah (and not some kind of envelope filter or something)?

Yes; that wah is SICK.  It's got the most intense filter effect, and that volume drop at toe-up is a vital part of the coolness and what gives Electric Funeral that cool filtery effect.  A regular wah doesn't destroy the attack like you need to do for that song.

[Sindran]

Fuzz??? Black Sabbath???
I don´t think Iommis sound is fuzzy at all, I would say its more distortion type than fuzz...
The word on the streets says that he used Rangemaster modded to give fullrange boost, not only treble boost.
And his SG in very important part of his sound also.
(IMHO)

[jmusser]

From what little knowledge I have on the subject, I can get a similar sound by using something like the Tychobrahe Octavia, and darkening the amp's tone, so that I'm getting that snarling distortion that he gets. From what I've heard, who used a Laney amp which is supposed to be notoriously dark, and then added the snarl in with the Range Master by treble boosting. I have made 3 or 4 different distortions that come really close to the various songs Iomi does like "Fairy's Wear Boots", "Paranoid", "Sweetleaf", etc. The main feature of them, is a presense of up octave, but not overwhelming up octave like the Simple Octave Up or Bobtavia have. That's my 2 cents anyway on how to get that sound. It's close enough for my ears anyway. I don't think Iomi's sound is fuzzy either, it's mostly a snarly distortion, that works along with the amp's own distortion and break up.

[Sir H C]

Lots of Laneys and an AC-30 hiding in the corner.

[tcobretti]

Lots of Laneys and an AC-30 hiding in the corner.

And note the guy (Bill Ward I believe) in the Leopard print shirt.

[captntasty]

The only way to get Tony's sound is to hack your fingertips off!      Couldn't resist.... 

Seriously, it's amazing what he's done despite the injury...  I read an interview and his pickups are unique - they're voiced very similar to a P-90.  He liked the P90's but not the single coil noise so he had a hand in designing a humbucker (way back when) voiced more like a P90.  His current Signature model pups from Gibson are pretty hot - around 10k.  Don't know if that helps but an interesting tidbit.

[Moonface]

Drumkit from hell and "Def Leppard" shirt

[$uperpuma]

so long as we are posting Bill Ward pics (one of the best days of my life:) )

[tcobretti]

Ward is one of the unsung greats.

[Burstbucker]

I bought my first Black Sabbath record when I was appx.13 years old, back in 1974, it was Vol.4.  Man, I just went nuts over this band!  Over the next 10-12 months I had aquired the first album and then Paranoid, then I bought the rest of them.  What an awesome band, so many terrific albums!  I wore out those records and eventually had to replace them all again over the next three or four years.

I guess I started to fall out of love with Sabbath around the Technical Ecstacy era, they were definately going downhill at that point, then when I bought Never Say Die it was all over but the crying.  What a shame!
8^(

I too have read that Iommi used a modified treble booster(for fullrange boost) into a Laney or Orange head. 

I just felt the need to express my appreciation for this band, one of a kind they were!

[Plectrum]

Fuzz??? Black Sabbath???
I don´t think Iommis sound is fuzzy at all, I would say its more distortion type than fuzz...
The word on the streets says that he used Rangemaster modded to give fullrange boost, not only treble boost.
And his SG in very important part of his sound also.
(IMHO)

I gotta say, I think his sound mostly (most of the older stuff) *does* have the "fuzz" quality to it, and the rangemaster, is almost a single stage fuzzface when modded this way, just tighter.

Grant.