Tone library / Pantera / The great southern trendkill

The great southern trendkill amp settings — Boss ME-80

The Pantera guitar tone for “The great southern trendkill”, dialed in for a Boss ME-80 with a Dean Razorback. Studio version, The Great Southern Trendkill album (1996)

Original rig

Washburn Dime 333 with Bill Lawrence L-500XL bridge pickup → Furman PQ-3 Parametric EQ → Randall RG-100ES solid-state head

Razor-sharp aggressive high-gain with scooped low-mids, boosted upper-mids (2-3kHz), tight bass, and cutting treble presence
Amp settings — Boss ME-80
CHANNELR-FIER amp type (Rectifier-style high gain)
GAIN 8 BASS 6 MID 3 TREBLE 8 PRESENCE 7 REVERB 0 MASTER 7
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain8
Bass6
Mid3
Treble8
Presence7
Reverb0
Master7
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Guitar
PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01Boss ME-80 Parametric EQ (internal)

Critical for Dime's tone — boost 2-3kHz range aggressively, cut sub-100Hz mud. Place before amp model in signal chain.

Low 4 · Low-Mid 3 · High-Mid 8 · High 6 · Level 6

02Boss ME-80 Noise Gate (internal)

Tighten palm mutes and kill hum between riffs — essential for Pantera's precision.

Threshold 5 · Release 3
Why these settings

Your Dean Razorback with stock humbuckers has similar output to Dime's L-500XL, so no gain compensation needed. The ME-80's R-FIER model approximates the tight, solid-state aggression of the Randall. The key is the parametric EQ — Dime's tone was defined by external EQ boosting upper-mids while scooping low-mids, not just amp settings. Without this EQ work, the tone will sound generic.

PRO TIPPick directly over the bridge pickup pole pieces with a heavy pick (1.5mm+) angled sharply — Dime's attack came from his picking hand as much as his gear. Dig in hard on palm mutes but lighten up for single-note runs to let the upper-mid cut through.

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