Floods outro Riff Guitar Tone Settings — Pantera
Pantera · 1990s · metal
studio
Original Recording
Studio recording for Pantera's 'Floods' outro riff (1996, The Great Southern Trendkill). Dimebag Darrell was known to use the Dean ML with Bill Lawrence L-500XL bridge pickup and a Randall RG100ES solid-state amp for this era. No evidence of live rig or alternate gear for this specific section.
Amp Settings
Effects Chain
- MXR 6 Band EQ · eq
- Furman PQ-3 Parametric EQ · eq
- Delay pedal (model unknown) · delay
Dean ML → MXR 6 Band EQ → Furman PQ-3 → Delay pedal (model unknown) → Randall RG100ES (with spring reverb)
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Tone Character
- scooped mids
- tight low-end
- high-gain saturation
- singing sustain
- warm and smooth
- slightly fuzzy
- ambient delay
- neck pickup roundness
- articulate pick attack
- solid-state clarity
Playing Technique
- Let the repeating figure breathe · difficulty 3/5Hold each note for its intended value, then release cleanly before the next entrance. The delay should fill the gap without forcing you to overplay; rushing destroys the floating character of the outro.
- Shape slides as part of the melody · difficulty 3/5Keep pressure on the string through position changes so the slide remains audible, but arrive exactly on pitch. With high sustain and ambience, a vague landing is repeated several times and quickly sounds unfocused.
- Use restrained pick force · difficulty 3/5Pick firmly enough to define the front of the note, then let the gain carry it. Hitting too hard adds brittle transients and fights the warm, underwater quality fans associate with this section.
- Mute the lows without choking sustain · difficulty 4/5Rest the picking hand lightly on unused lower strings and use fretting fingers to silence neighbors. The goal is a quiet background around the melody, not palm-muted played notes; the coda needs open sustain rather than metal chug.
Sources
Tone Story / Why This Tone Works
- Style and eraThe outro closes Pantera's 1996 The Great Southern Trendkill era, replacing the album's abrasion with a spacious, almost elegiac groove-metal coda.
- Player identityDimebag Darrell brings his precise pitch, vocal bends, and singing sustain to an older melodic idea, revealing the lyrical side of his normally aggressive style.
- Why the outro needs this toneFocused distortion carries the notes while delay and reverb create distance; restrained low end keeps the repeating figure from turning cloudy.
- Why it worksThe contrast is the hook: after the record's crushing weight, the guitar opens into a reflective horizon while still sounding unmistakably like Dimebag.
What Fans Are Saying About This Tone?
A top comment describes the outro as the musical form of light at the end of a tunnel.
Vote your takeListeners love that the guitar seems to sound as if it is being played underwater.
Vote your takeOne guitarist hears both sadness and happiness in the riff and says it inspires them to keep playing.
Vote your takeFans repeatedly nominate it as one of the best outros ever recorded.
Vote your takeAnother listener imagines the pain ending, the rain stopping, and the sky clearing.
Vote your take