Laney Supergroup

The Laney Supergroup amplifier was Tony Iommi's primary amp throughout Black Sabbath's classic era, its EL34 power tubes delivering the thick, saturated midrange that defined heavy metal's foundational tone. Built in Birmingham — the same city as Sabbath themselves — Laney's amps provided Iommi with a denser, darker voice than the brighter Marshalls favored by his contemporaries. The Supergroup's preamp section responds dynamically to pick attack, allowing Iommi to shift from crushing palm-muted riffs to singing lead tones by adjusting his right-hand technique.