Cemetery gates amp settings — Peavey 5150

The Pantera guitar tone for “Cemetery gates”, dialed in for a Peavey 5150 with a Prodipe Stratocaster. Studio version, Cowboys From Hell (1990) — distorted riff/rhythm sections

Original rig

Dean ML 'Dean From Hell' with Bill Lawrence L-500XL bridge pickup → MXR 6-Band EQ (V-scoop) → Randall RG100ES solid-state head → Randall 412JB cabinet. Rocktron Hush noise gate. Clean intro used Roland JC-120 (not the main riff tone).

Scooped-mid crushing rhythm with razor-sharp attack, tight low-end thump, and aggressive high-frequency sizzle — the definitive groove metal tone

Amp settings — Peavey 5150

CHANNELLead (green)BRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	6
Bass	7
Mid	3
Treble	8
Presence	6
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01MXR 10-Band EQ

IN FRONT of amp input. Classic Dimebag V-scoop: cut 500Hz-2kHz hard, boost lows and highs. This is the secret sauce.

31Hz 5 · 62Hz 6 · 125Hz 7 · 250Hz 6 · 500Hz 3 · 1kHz 2 · 2kHz 3 · 4kHz 7 · 8kHz 8 · 16kHz 6 · Level 6

02Noise Gate

After EQ, before amp. Essential for tight palm-muted chugs — kills noise between riffs without choking sustain.

Threshold 6

Why these settings

Your 5150 is actually closer to Dimebag's tone than the Randall — both are tight, aggressive, and scoop-friendly. The 5150 has more inherent mids than the RG100ES, so the MXR EQ scoop is critical to nail the hollow-mid character. Gain at 6 is plenty — the 5150 saturates early and more gain mushes the palm mutes. Your Strat's single coils are lower output and brighter than Dime's L-500XL humbucker, so I dropped treble slightly and presence compensates for the thinner bridge pickup attack.

PRO TIPDimebag's pick attack was vicious and precise — use a heavy pick (1.0mm+), choke up close to the tip, and strike the strings at a slight angle near the bridge for that razor-sharp 'clank' on palm mutes. The tone is in the hands as much as the EQ scoop.

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