“Joe Perry was running close to 15 cabs on stage, and he ended up asking Tony to turn down. The amp was only on 4”: From Eddie Van Halen’s amps to the art of boosting, here are Tony Iommi’s tone secrets – from the man who knows them best

Heavy metal godfather Tony Iommi smiles as he plays another seminal riff onstage with Black Sabbath in 2016.

Grammy-winning producer and engineer Mike Exeter is well-known for his credits on releases that range from UB40, the Specials and Jeff Beck to Cradle of Filth and Judas Priest.

However, it’s the Englishman’s work with Tony Iommi that has proved to be his most fruitful, having initially stepped in for The 1996 DEP Sessions with Glenn Hughes and the Fused solo album of 2005, leading to the 2009 reunion with Ronnie James Dio as Heaven & Hell and Black Sabbath’s final studio album, 2013’s 13. Following the death of Iommi’s long-serving tech, Mike Clement, in 2022, Exeter is undoubtedly the person best placed to provide insight into what Iommi is searching for.