Tony Iommi

Used on Black Sabbath's debut album, this guitar became one Iommi's iconic instruments throughout his career. It is a '65 custom.

This guitar was bought sometime in the mid to late 60s as a replacement for the Burns Trisonic. It can be seen during the 1968’s Rock’n’Roll Circus with The Rolling Stones, when Tony joined Jethro Tull for one gig before going back to the Black Sabbath (still named Earth at that time).

Tony’s Stratocaster was a 60s pre-CBS model with rosewood fretboard, and originally featured a sunburst finish. He modified the guitar over the years, and tried to make it easier to play since he had an accident where he lost the tips of his two fingers on his right hand while he still had this guitar. He filled the frets down and lowered the action, played with the pickups, and repainted the whole body white.

This guitar was used basically from the time the gig with Rockin’ Chevrolets ended in 1965, up until the recording of Black Sabbath’s first album in 1970. Unfortunately, one of the pickups on the guitar stopped working and Tony only ended up using it on one song, “Wicked World”. The rest were recording with a Gibson SG which Tony used as a spare up until this point.

In this photo, one can see an Orange Matamp behind Iommi on the stage.

In this article, Mike Piera ("Analog Mike") says: "In June of 2001 Mr. Iommi's guitar tech Mike Clement told me that Tony was looking for another Dallas Rangemaster as his was lost years ago. I did not have any to sell, so I offered and make him a clone, our first BEANO BOOST. Last I heard he has it in his home studio along with our Chorus and modified TS9 tube screamer."

Tony Iommi Rock aid Armenia, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell, plays his JayDee Custom SG with a great view at 0:04.

"Tony’s favourite wah pedal is an old Tychobrahe Parapedal. It was made in the early seventies. They have not been available new for many years now although I believe there is someone who has now started making clones called the Parachute." - Tony's official website.

Tony Iommi owned during a short time an early Gibson SG Custom cream finished (called Les Paul SG then) with three humbucker pickups and a maestro vibrato. It's said it was a gift from Leslie West in the early 70's. However, it can't be seen on photographs of Tony's collection taken in 1974 and later : it seems that it has been stolen.

(Here is a link to a fanpage with many details on this guitar : http://www.black-sabbath.com/vb/showthread.php?40353-Tony-s-white-Gibson-SG )

According to Dunlop's website, Iommi uses Dunlop Tortex 0.88 mm picks.

Built for Iommi in 1980. Features Dimarzio pickups, two built-in preamps, Iommi trademark cross inlays and 24 fret neck, scalloped by luthier Neal Moser. That guitar was used in Star Licks Master Series Tony Iommi Video, for Star Licks Productions. Iommi also had a left handed BC Rich Mockingbird.

A 1965 Gibson SG in red finish fitted with a Gibson P-90 pickup in the bridge position and a custom wound John Birch Simplux, a P-90 style single coil in the neck position. The guitar became Iommi’s main instrument after his white Fender Stratocaster’s neck pickup failed during the recording of Black Sabbath debut album;

From Laney's website, "The TI-BOOST is a simple pedal – it has a Drive and a Volume control, along with the ability to dial in the Low and Hi frequencies as well as a mid-switch that gives you a couple of different Mid frequency options. The pedal functions in the same way as Tony’s legendary modified Range master – with a significant bass cut and mid boost, but we’ve included a little more gain and EQ options to make it more appealing to more players looking to find their own sounds. The TI-BOOST gives you the guitar tone recognised for decades around the world by millions." This is the only signature Tony Iommi pedal on the market.

An OD-1 can be seen on his studio pedalboard.

Tony has used La Bella strings since 1990. La Bella is the trade mark of E&O Mari, a family run company based in Newburgh, New York state. People may be surprised to know that they are one of the few string companies that actually do make strings! This means that when we make requests regarding the actual string construction, e.g. extra reinforcement at the ball end of some of Tony’s very light gauges, we know that we will be accommodated.

Here are Tony’s string gauges on the live guitars:-

For the D# tuning, .008p, .008p, .011p, .018w, .024w, .032w.

For the C# tuning, .009p, .010p, .012p, .020w, .032w, .042w.

Source: Iommi.com

This was Tony’s main amp since the time Paranoid came out, up until the very late 80s.

The photo depicts Tony Iommi with his Gibson Les Paul Junior, highlighting his association with this iconic guitar.

In this article from Music Radar, when asked "What amps were you using in the early days of Sabbath, around the first album 'Black Sabbath'?" Tony responds, "I switched to Laney because they started up around the same time as us and they're a Birmingham company. To be honest, they offered to give us all this gear when nobody else did. What do you say to that? 'OK!' So I used them."

This secondary article from Tony's official site confirms that he uses his signature model heads while playing live.

Tony Iommi's Epiphone Tony Iommi G-400 SG was the brand's first signature model, released in 2007. This guitar is distinct from the Epiphone Ltd. Ed. Tony Iommi Signature SG Custom, launched around 2015. Both models are renowned for their impressive design and performance. Further details on the G-400 SG can be found on Epiphone's website.

On his website, There is a picture of his studio pedalboard. In the picture you can see this pedal

THE TONY IOMMI - BLACK SABBATH PERSONAL COLLECTION

We are happy to offer the following items from the personal collection of the God Father of Heavy Metal , Mr Tony Iommi one of founding members of of the worlds most respected and iconic of all bands that being Black sabbath , please find full details as follows

THE COLLECTION

The collection comprises of both Amplifiers , Effects and accessories all of which have been stage , tour and studio used and each coming with personal Signed Certificate confirming history , ownership of the God Father of Heavy Metal

Line 6 Modulation Effect

Hand Signed By Tony Iommi

HISTORY - All Stage / Tour Used Heaven and Hell tour 2007 - 2009

Was made by luthier John Birch, and before Iommi has used predominantly his JayDee model, was one of his main instruments. The characteristic sound of this guitar can be heard on Never Say Die album.

This guitar was built for Tony by Gibson master luthier J.T. Riboloff. It was based on a SG Custom, but featured 24 frets and a floating Floyd Rose tremolo which Tony needed in order to play couple of songs live (Mob Rules is most often mentioned as an example).

Another SG with tremolo appeared sometime in the late 90s, this time a Custom version of the SG with white finish.

In this photo, Iommi holding a Gibson Les Paul.

In a 1989 live performance in Russia, Tony Iommi played a Steinberger GM4T while covering "Apache" by The Shadows.

From the time that I started working for Tony in September of 1990 up to mid 1993, Tony had been using a variety of amps and speaker systems for live and recording work. The live rig was a Marshall system, based on the tube 9000 series. Physically there were;

steel cages, each with fixed castors and containing 2 Marshall 4 x 12″ speaker cabinets. 2 amplifier rack cases, each containing 3 Marshall 9005 50 watt stereo tube power amplifiers. 1 control/effects rack case, containing 2 (1 as a spare) Marshall 9001 tube pre-amplifiers, various effect units and a Pete Cornish relay effects switching unit.

Tony went through a Mesa Boogie period starting with around 1982, and used the amps peridically up until the early 90s. This is a screenshot from a video from 1984.

It says on his website that his 4 X 12 Laney cabs in his live setup are loaded with Celestion G12H speakers.

from the video @ 0:35: "I wanted a small amp I could use backstage and also for recording or at home"

Used in the late 60s prior to entering the studio with Black Sabbath.

This amp was modified by John “Dawk” Stillwell, who designed a new circuit for it that included an extra tube and a master gain control. The amp was used on Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules albums