“I had my Laney [Tony Iommi Signature] amps modded by Voodoo Amps for more bass, because sometimes I would go into a room and even though my bass was already on 10, it would feel like the sound was really thin.” Victor Griffin said this to Premier Guitar — and the specific logic is the complete statement of his tone philosophy: he wants more bass. He wants the sound to be heavier. His bass was already on 10 and it still wasn’t enough. When Voodoo Amps modified his Laney Tony Iommi Signature to provide the additional low-end weight that the original circuit couldn’t deliver at 10, he had the tone he needed. He is “the American Tony Iommi” — a description he earned by pioneering doom metal from Arlington, Virginia, beginning in 1971, alongside vocalist Bobby Liebling, in a band called Pentagram. He invented Drop B tuning decades before most metal musicians thought about it. He was thrown off a Black Sabbath tour for misbehavior and subsequently apologized to Tony Iommi for the behavior — “a very cool apology,” as the Everyone Loves Guitar podcast characterized it. He got clean. He found God. He runs a custom motorcycle shop in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a former semi-pro BMX rider and a pro racecar driver. And he has Gibson Les Paul Standards from 1987, 1991, and 1994, a Laney Tony Iommi Signature modded for more bass, and a Way Huge Angry Troll boost pedal that fattens the signal “like having a tube amp before your tube amp.” This is the doom rig. Bass on 10. Modified for more.
Victor Griffin grew up in Tennessee and became involved in the Pentagram/Death Row scene in Arlington, Virginia — the loose community of musicians around vocalist Bobby Liebling that had been trying, with spectacular self-destructive inconsistency, to break out of the underground since 1971. Pentagram is one of the most celebrated and most self-sabotaged bands in the history of heavy metal: a band that was “pegged to be the next big thing” multiple times across forty years, that recorded some of the most powerful doom metal ever committed to tape, and that consistently collapsed under the weight of Bobby Liebling’s drug addiction and the revolving cast of musicians who could not sustain professional stability around him. Griffin — described by Premier Guitar as someone who “aimed for a more stable lifestyle” compared to Liebling — maintained a musical career in parallel through Death Row (his primary band before the Pentagram name was adopted), Place of Skulls (his Christian doom trio from 2000 onward), and various other projects, rejoining Pentagram for multiple stints across decades. He is described as “maybe the most important guitar figure in US Doom Metal after Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich” by Doommantia. He is the man who tuned his guitar to Drop B. He does not apologize for the bass being on 10.
Background: Arlington Virginia, Death Row to Pentagram, Drop B Pioneer, Black Sabbath Tour Ejection, Christian Conversion
The Pentagram story is simultaneously one of the most important and one of the most tragic in American heavy metal — a band that was there at the beginning, that had the songs and the sound and the specific combination of Bobby Liebling’s charismatic darkness and Victor Griffin’s guitar vision that should have produced a career at the level of Black Sabbath or Judas Priest, and that instead spent forty years in the underground, releasing first albums in 1985 (Pentagram self-titled), returning for reunion and collapse cycles, and finally receiving the critical recognition they deserved decades after the creative work was done. The documentary “Last Days Here” (2011) — about Bobby Liebling’s drug addiction and his attempts to revive his career — brought Pentagram to the attention of a new generation of doom metal fans who recognized the specific quality of the music and wondered how they had never heard of it.
Griffin’s specific contribution to this story — as the guitarist who wrote many of the riffs, who created the specific Drop B tuning that gave Pentagram’s music its extreme heaviness, and who maintained enough personal stability to sustain a professional music career in parallel with his Pentagram involvements — is as important as Liebling’s more theatrically celebrated role. Griffin is the architect; Liebling is the singer. The architecture has been consistently excellent; the singer’s consistency has been more variable.
His Black Sabbath tour ejection — getting thrown off a Black Sabbath tour for behavior that he subsequently apologized to Tony Iommi for — is one of the more specifically metal biographical facts in this section. The apology to Iommi is documented as “a very cool apology” in the Everyone Loves Guitar podcast context, suggesting that Griffin’s contrition was genuine and that Iommi received it well. The story connects Griffin to Iommi in a specific biographical way: the guitarist who invented Drop B tuning in the tradition of the guitarist who reinvented heavy metal from Birmingham, England, the “American Tony Iommi” making a personal apology to the original.
His Christian conversion in the late 1990s and the founding of Place of Skulls (a Christian heavy doom trio) in 2000 represent a specific personal turn that distinguishes his story from the general direction of doom metal narratives. Place of Skulls — whose albums include Nailed (2002), With Vision (2003), Love Under Will (2004), and subsequent releases — continued the musical approach of his Pentagram work while applying it to explicitly Christian lyrical content. The name “Place of Skulls” is a biblical reference to Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. His position — a Christian doom metal musician in a genre generally associated with Satanic or occult imagery — is the most specifically paradoxical in this section of the guide, and reflects the genuine complexity of his conversion and its relationship to his musical identity.
The Rig: Victor Griffin’s Guitars, Amps, and Effects
Guitars
Gibson Les Paul Standards (1987, 1991, 1994 — Primary Instruments): Victor Griffin’s primary guitars are multiple-year Gibson Les Paul Standards — confirmed by Equipboard from the Premier Guitar article: “In an article by Joe Charupakorn for Premier Guitar titled ‘Pentagram’s Victor Griffin: Commandeering the Low Road,’ it is confirmed that Victor Griffin uses a Gibson Les Paul Studio Standard from 1984… 1991 Gibson Les Paul Standard, 1987 Gibson Les Paul Standard, 1994 Gibson Les Paul Standard.” The Gibson Les Paul is the most natural instrument choice for a guitarist who has been described as “the American Tony Iommi” — since Iommi himself is associated with Gibson SG (his early instrument) and various Les Paul-adjacent instruments. The Les Paul’s specific character — mahogany body with maple cap, set-neck construction, humbucker pickups, long sustain — is the foundational guitar tone of heavy metal, providing the warmth and weight that Drop B tuning requires. Multiple years of Les Paul Standards (1987, 1991, 1994) document a consistent preference for the Les Paul family rather than a specific vintage or model obsession; what matters is the Les Paul’s specific tonal character, not the particular year of production.
Gibson SG ’61 Reissue (Secondary Instrument, Instagram Documented): An Equipboard entry notes: “In an Instagram reel posted by vveedian, Victor Griffin is seen playing a black dual-humbucker Gibson SG, which aligns with the characteristics of the Gibson SG ’61 Reissue that he is known to use.” The Gibson SG — the guitar most associated with Tony Iommi throughout the Black Sabbath catalog — provides a historical connection to Iommi’s specific instrument alongside the Les Paul’s heavier construction. The SG’s lighter weight and different tonal character (brighter, more “snarky” than the Les Paul’s warm sustain) gives Griffin an alternative sonic palette for specific passages.
1997 Epiphone Les Paul Standard (2012 UK/European Tour): “A 1997 Epiphone Les Paul Standard was used off and on by Victor Griffin in Place of Skulls and Pentagram. Last used in Pentagram on the 2012 UK/European Relentless tour.” — confirmed by his guitar tech Wayne Boruff (2012-2014). The Epiphone Les Paul Standard — Gibson’s Korean-made Les Paul at a more accessible price — shares the fundamental design and tonal character of the Gibson original while offering a practical touring backup without the financial risk of touring with exclusively vintage or expensive instruments.
Drop B Tuning Pioneer (Invented Decades Before It Became Standard): Victor Griffin’s most specific technical contribution to guitar history is the Drop B tuning — identified in the Premier Guitar article as something he created “decades before most metal mavens even thought about twisting their tuning pegs counterclockwise.” Drop B tuning (B-F#-B-E-G#-C#, one step lower than Drop A, two and a half steps lower than standard) gives the guitar a specific extreme heaviness — the lowest string producing genuine sub-bass frequencies that provide the specific physical weight of doom metal. His invention of this tuning (which subsequently became standard in the djent and progressive metal communities, documented throughout this guide’s Metal section) is one of the most specific gear/technique contributions in American doom metal history.
D’Addario EXL125 Strings (.009-.046, Confirmed Premier Guitar): The Premier Guitar article confirms D’Addario EXL125 nickel wound strings — .009 high E to .046 low string. The .009 gauge is lighter than might be expected for a guitarist who tunes to Drop B; the relatively light string gauge at extreme low tuning produces the specific slightly floppy, organic low-string response of traditional doom metal guitar (different from the tight, defined response of the heavier gauges used by djent players for extended-range guitars). The .009-.046 gauges on Drop B produce the specific loose, weighty, organic low string character of Pentagram’s guitar tone.
Amps
Laney TI100 Tony Iommi Signature (Primary Live Amp, Modified by Voodoo Amps for More Bass): Victor Griffin’s primary amplifier is the Laney TI100 Tony Iommi Signature — Tony Iommi’s own signature amplifier, produced by the British Laney Amplification company that has been associated with Iommi since the early Black Sabbath recordings. The Equipboard Premier Guitar confirmation: “Victor Griffin uses the Laney TI100 Tony Iommi Signature amplifier.” His bass-enhancement modification: “I had my Laney [Tony Iommi Signature] amps modded by Voodoo Amps for more bass, because sometimes I would go into a room and even though my bass was already on 10, it would feel like the sound was really thin.” The specific irony of the American Tony Iommi using the actual Tony Iommi Signature amplifier is not lost on anyone who follows the Pentagram story: Griffin’s nickname and his amplifier choice are the same reference. He uses the Iommi signature amp. He has it modified to be heavier than Iommi himself designed it. He wants more bass than Tony Iommi apparently required.
Modded Laney GH100L (Secondary/Alternative Amp, Also Voodoo Amps Modified): Alongside the Laney TI100, Griffin also uses a modified Laney GH100L — “Victor Griffin uses a modded (modified by Voodoo Amps) Laney GH100L amplifier head.” The Laney GH100L is the 100-watt all-tube head that also appears in the rigs of Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth, Series 2 #168) and other guitarists who value its specific British tube character. In Griffin’s case, the Voodoo Amps modification again addresses the bass response — the same “more bass” requirement that drove the TI100 modification. Both Laney amps, modified by the same specialist, produce the same enhanced low-frequency character that defines his specific doom tone.
Voodoo Amps (Amplifier Modification Specialist for Both Laney Units): Voodoo Amps — the California-based amplifier modification specialists — are the specific technical service that Griffin uses to achieve the particular bass enhancement he requires. The “modded by Voodoo Amps for more bass” characterization reflects a professional relationship between a guitarist who knows exactly what he wants (more bass, heavier) and an amplifier specialist who can deliver it. The fact that both his primary amplifiers (TI100 and GH100L) have been modified by the same service indicates a systematic approach: he has a specific tonal requirement that production amplifiers don’t fully satisfy, and he has found the specialist who can satisfy it.
Effects
Way Huge Electronics WHE101 Angry Troll Boost (Primary Pedal Effect, Confirmed Premier Guitar): The most important single pedal in Victor Griffin’s signal chain is the Way Huge Electronics Angry Troll linear boost. Equipboard confirms: “It is confirmed that Victor Griffin uses the Way Huge Electronics WHE101 Angry Troll boost pedal.” The Minotaur Sonic Terrors website describes the similar Griffin Signature Boost they produced in collaboration with him: “The best way to describe it, is like having a tube amp before your tube amp making everything LOUDER without losing bottom end.” This characterization — “a tube amp before your tube amp” — is the most specific possible description of what a clean boost pedal does when driving an already-driven tube amplifier: it increases the input signal level, pushing the tube amplifier’s input stage harder, producing more natural tube saturation without changing the amplifier’s EQ character. For a guitarist who needs maximum low-end weight and maximum tube saturation, the Angry Troll running into a modified Laney produces the specific “heavier than heavy” doom tone that defines his approach.
Griffin Signature Boost by Minotaur Sonic Terrors (Signature Collaboration): Griffin collaborated with Minotaur Sonic Terrors — an effects pedal company — on his own signature boost pedal: “The Griffin Boost is done according to Victor’s liking on both tone and graphics.” The pedal’s controls: “a gain knob controlling the amount of boost, and a volume control. As you add more gain to your signal, it beefs up your sound and when you turn it past 12 o’clock it will start sounding like an overdrive pedal depending of course on your guitar pickups and the amount of amp gain you are using.” The simple design — gain and volume, two knobs — reflects his broader philosophy: the right tool for the specific job, as simply as possible.
D’Addario EXL125 Strings (Technical Effect — Gauge Matching Tuning): The .009-.046 string gauge on Drop B tuning is itself an effect — a deliberate choice that produces the specific organic, slightly loose low-string response that distinguishes traditional doom metal guitar from the tight, precise low-string character of extended-range djent guitar. The specific string tension at Drop B with .009 gauge produces a particular feel and sound that heavier gauges at the same tuning would not.
Playing Style & Tone Philosophy
Victor Griffin’s playing style is the most specifically heavy in this section of the guide — the approach of a guitarist who has organized his entire signal chain (Drop B tuning, Gibson Les Paul with full humbuckers, modified Laney TI100 with bass at 10 and then modified for more, Way Huge Angry Troll boosting the whole thing) around a single tonal goal: weight. The heaviness of doom metal is not the precision heaviness of Meshuggah’s polymetric djent or the aggressive heaviness of death metal’s saturation — it is the gravitational heaviness of a guitar tuned so low and processed through an amplifier with so much low-end that it produces a physical sensation in the chest. This is what Victor Griffin pursues. Bass on 10. Modified for more.
His connection to Tony Iommi — the “American Tony Iommi” characterization, the Laney TI100 signature amp, the Black Sabbath tour ejection and subsequent apology — is the central biographical thread of his guitar story. Iommi invented heavy metal guitar; Griffin extended it into the specific American doom metal tradition, tuning lower (Drop B versus Iommi’s various dropped tunings) and pursuing heavier amplification (the Voodoo Amps modification of the Iommi signature amp itself). Where Iommi’s heaviness was a product of physical circumstance (he lost his fingertips in an industrial accident and reduced string tension with lighter strings and lower tuning to enable his playing), Griffin’s heaviness is a product of deliberate creative choice — the specific aesthetic of doom metal as a genre that values weight above all other musical qualities.
His Christian conversion and its relationship to his music — playing doom metal with Christian lyrical content, the “Place of Skulls” biblical reference — is the most specifically paradoxical element of his persona. Doom metal’s aesthetic tradition draws heavily from occult and Satanic imagery; Griffin’s religious belief is the opposite. The music itself remains unmistakably heavy; the lyrical and philosophical content has changed. The guitar tone has not.
How to Sound Like Victor Griffin
Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Standard (any year from the late 1980s or 1990s) — the mahogany/maple construction with full PAF-style humbuckers provides the foundational warmth and sustain. Tune to Drop B (B-F#-B-E-G#-C# from low to high, a fifth below standard E). Use .009-.046 D’Addario EXL125 strings — the lighter gauge at low tuning produces the specific organic, slightly loose low-string character of traditional doom metal.
Amp: Laney TI100 Tony Iommi Signature (if available) or Laney GH100L (more widely accessible). If possible, have a specialist modify the bass response circuit for enhanced low-frequency output. Set the bass to maximum and then evaluate whether additional modification is needed.
Amp Settings (Laney TI100 Tony Iommi Signature / British Tube Head):
| Control | Setting (0–10) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gain | 6–8 | Moderate-high — the Angry Troll boost provides additional push |
| Bass | 10 | Maximum — and then modify the amp for even more if possible |
| Mid | 5–6 | Present — doom guitar needs midrange for the riff to be heard clearly |
| Treble | 5 | Natural — not scooped, but the bass dominates |
| Presence | 4–5 | Moderate — attack definition without thinning the low-end weight |
Boost: Way Huge Angry Troll before the amp, set to push the amp harder without adding distortion character — gain at noon for the “tube amp before your tube amp” effect, volume slightly above unity for clean boost. This is the complete signal chain: Les Paul in Drop B → Angry Troll → Modified Laney TI100. That is the doom tone.
Influence & Legacy
Victor Griffin’s influence on American doom metal is foundational alongside Wino Weinrich (Series 2 #182) of Saint Vitus — both musicians cited as the primary architects of the American doom metal tradition in the 1970s, 1980s, and beyond. His specific technical contribution (Drop B tuning, decades before it became standard in the broader metal community) is the most concrete single innovation attributed to him. His musical contribution (the riffs and compositions of the Pentagram catalog, the doom recordings of Place of Skulls) is the foundation of the American doom tradition.
His connection to Wino Weinrich (Series 2 #182) as the primary peer figure in American doom metal — “maybe the most important guitar figure in US Doom Metal after Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich” — reflects both his importance and the specific hierarchy within the tradition. His connection to Dave Wyndorf (Series 2 #183) of Monster Magnet as a parallel figure in the American heavy underground reflects the broader context of American psychedelic and doom metal in which Pentagram’s music exists.
Internal Links:
- Wino Weinrich of Saint Vitus, the primary peer figure in American doom metal and Griffin’s primary historical parallel at #182
- Dave Wyndorf of Monster Magnet, a parallel figure in the American heavy underground at #183
- Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity, another Southern US heavy metal guitarist in the same tradition at #184
- Kirk Windstein of Down/Crowbar, who developed the American doom/sludge tradition alongside Pentagram’s influence at #185
Frequently Asked Questions: Victor Griffin Pentagram Guitars & Gear
What guitar does Victor Griffin play?
Griffin’s primary guitars are multiple-year Gibson Les Paul Standards — 1987, 1991, and 1994 models confirmed in the Premier Guitar article, alongside a 1984 Gibson Les Paul Studio Standard. He also plays a Gibson SG ’61 Reissue (documented on Instagram) and has used a 1997 Epiphone Les Paul Standard as a touring backup (confirmed by his guitar tech Wayne Boruff for the 2012 UK/European Relentless tour). All guitars are tuned to Drop B — the extreme low tuning he pioneered decades before it became standard in the broader metal community.
What amplifier does Victor Griffin use?
Griffin’s primary amplifier is the Laney TI100 Tony Iommi Signature — modified by Voodoo Amps for enhanced bass response: “I had my Laney [Tony Iommi Signature] amps modded by Voodoo Amps for more bass, because sometimes I would go into a room and even though my bass was already on 10, it would feel like the sound was really thin.” He also uses a modified Laney GH100L, also modified by Voodoo Amps. Both amps are the same British tube amplifier tradition associated with Tony Iommi — Griffin using the Iommi signature amp and having it made heavier than Iommi designed it.
What is Drop B tuning and did Victor Griffin invent it?
Drop B tuning drops the lowest string of a standard-tuned guitar to B — four and a half steps below the standard E — giving the guitar access to extremely low bass frequencies. Premier Guitar confirmed that Griffin created this tuning “decades before most metal mavens even thought about twisting their tuning pegs counterclockwise.” While similar dropped tunings existed in various forms before Griffin, his specific application of Drop B to a regular six-string guitar in a doom metal context — and his use of it from Pentagram’s earliest recordings — gives him legitimate historical claim to its popularization in heavy metal.
What is the Way Huge Angry Troll and why does Griffin use it?
The Way Huge Electronics WHE101 Angry Troll is a linear boost pedal that increases the guitar signal level without adding significant coloration. Griffin uses it to push his modified Laney amplifiers harder — “like having a tube amp before your tube amp making everything LOUDER without losing bottom end,” as described by Minotaur Sonic Terrors in the context of his signature Griffin Boost pedal. Running the boost into an already-driven tube amplifier increases natural tube saturation, producing more warmth and compression at the amp’s input stage without the added distortion character of an overdrive pedal.
Why is Victor Griffin called the “American Tony Iommi”?
The characterization reflects Griffin’s specific role in developing American doom metal in parallel with Iommi’s role in creating heavy metal from Black Sabbath’s Birmingham. Both guitarists prioritized extreme heaviness, both used Gibson Les Paul-style guitars through British amplification (Laney in both cases), and both applied slowed-down, massive riffing within a rock band context to create something heavier than contemporary rock had been. Griffin’s use of the actual Laney Tony Iommi Signature amplifier — and having it modified to be heavier than Iommi’s original specification — makes the connection literal as well as metaphorical.
What is Place of Skulls?
Place of Skulls is Victor Griffin’s Christian heavy doom trio, founded in 2000 with bassist Lee Abney and drummer Tim Tomaselli. The band name is a biblical reference to Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. Albums include Nailed (2002), With Vision (2003), Love Under Will (2004), As a Dog Returns (2010), and others. The band’s music maintains Griffin’s established heavy doom approach — Drop B tuning, Les Paul through modified Laney, maximum bass — while applying explicitly Christian lyrical content. Wino Weinrich briefly joined Place of Skulls after Spirit Caravan broke up before forming The Hidden Hand.
What happened with Victor Griffin and the Black Sabbath tour?
Griffin was thrown off a Black Sabbath tour for misbehavior — the specific nature of the behavior is not documented in available primary sources beyond the characterization that it was significant enough to warrant ejection from the tour. He subsequently apologized to Tony Iommi for his behavior. The Everyone Loves Guitar podcast describes the apology as “a very cool apology,” suggesting it was received positively. The incident is one of multiple instances in the Pentagram/Griffin story of personal difficulties that disrupted professional opportunities during the pre-conversion period of his career.
