Living Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath
Having befriended Ronnie James Dio a decade earlier, when he worked with
Ronnie Dio and the Prophets-Dawk was thrilled when the legendary vocalist
called one day in 1979 and asked Dawk if he would come to Miami, Florida
to work on one of Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's amplifiers. The amp
was so important to Iommi that it was delaying the recording of Dio's
debut with the band, "Heaven and Hell."
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"When I arrived in Miami, near the band's recording studio, I was given my
own room in the villa that Sabbath was renting and immediately got down to
the task at hand," remembers Dawk. "The amplifier in question was a new
1959 model 100-watt Marshall amplifier whose tubes were destroyed when it
was shipped from England. I assume that this was the Hell part of the
band's vision of Heaven and Hell.
"Iommi was also unsatisfied with the stock Marshall's sound. He was
looking for more crunch and distortion than the stock marshall sound, which
is the reason most
musicians settle for adding a distortion box to their line of effects even
though it is prone to picking up radio stations, television signals, and
other extraneous noise.
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"The only way I could accommodate Iommi was by designing a new circuit
for the amplifier that included an extra tube and a new way of
wiring a master gain control. Between rejuvenating laps in the villa's pool,
I came up with a circuit board so good that it can be used in 50 watt, 100
watt, and 200 watt Marshall amplifiers.
"I also worked on bassist Geezer Butler's equipment, tuning his Cerwin
Vega M-F cabinets, Crown DC-300A Power Amplifiers and my all tube bass
pre-amps.
"Once Black Sabbath's now classic record was completed and released to
commercial success and critical acclaim, I joined the band on its world
tour. Now that was truly Heaven and Hell."