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devnulljp wrote:

gijoeodonnell wrote:So I recently purchased what I consider to be my first real amp (I'm not to count my Fender Frontman 15 that I got in a package with my Squier, both of which I disown) and found myself in a bit of a bind. My new amp, a Marshall Class5, is way too loud to let me get a good tube natural tube overdrive, and being a "botique" style amp, has no organic gain circuit.
(Yes, I should have played it more to realize that 5 watts class A is way too loud for my apartment, but I'm a beginner and the word MARSHALL had the same appeal to me as the words FORD MUSTANG to a 16 year old)
So I started looking around and found this forum through deviever's website. I am really trying to get a reasonable approximation of Billy Gibbons, Billy Squier, Slash, and Josh Homme sound. I was wondering if there is any pedal for the uninitiated that stands out as the best way to go to get my amp some gain and get into that sonic territory?
My orange Boss DS-1 ain't getting it done. VIsual Sounds Angry Fuzz, and Devi Ever's Never Drive were peaking my interest.

Get an attenuator so you can crank the amp but control the volume -- it goes in between the amp and the speaker and soaks up most of the power but still lets you crank the amp so you get nice natural power tube distortion but at bedroom levels.
The Weber Mini Mass is OK and not expensive ($70 or so?), but there are others (Ho/Ultimate attenuator is good, but up in the $300+ range), Dr. Z make one...there are loads of others.

http://www.tedweber.com/atten.htm
http://www.tedweber.com/combo.htm

Once you have the volume under control, shove a decent rangemaster-type treble booster in front of the amp (Analog Man beano Boost or the Keeley Java are both good places to start; Tone Man used to make a cool Rangemaster too; DAM Red Rooster is the biz) and you'll get the sound you're after.

Although, when you say Billy Gibbons I think (a) Foxx Tone Machine and (b) Expandora.

But I'd try the treble boost + attenuator trick first.