1w Tube Amp Question

FOR RECORDING LOW VOLUME.....
 
i have my 'big rig' automatically dialed in for low volume/quiet recording.....
 

 
my current favorite recording technique (guitars) using a Weber Mass Lite and Palmer PDI-09 by itself.
This allows for a 'quiet' way to capture full bore tube amp sounds into a DAW, without getting evicted or divorced.
but you can also run your amp wide open, as loud as you want, and the signal from the palmer stays the same, more or less.
The Weber Mass Lite, 100w, is my attenuator of choice.

https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/masslite.htm

Palmer PDI-09:


here's how i use it:
i go Mesa boogie Mark IIb 60 watt tube head /speaker out (8 or 4 ohm, prefer 8) into the Palmer PDI-09.
so, boogie speaker out into palmer 'INPUT', and then back out via the 'THRU', and that goes to the Weber, for attenuation.
From the Weber, 'speaker out' to whatever cab i want to use (the demeter isolation cabinet if i want to play loud, the celestion greenback cab if i want to monitor 'open air'.)
idea here is, if i want to record in the headphones, i can attenuate the piss out of the boogie, put it in the demeter, and it is almost silent.
if i want to play loud, and play along with my monitors blasting my backing tracks, i can use my closed back 1x12 with the celestion, or into the demeter, and play as loud as i want.. the palmer doesn't know the difference, only the weber comes into play, and since i'm not micing, there's no bleed over from the guitar cab and the monitors......
so, the 'BAL. OUT' on the palmer, is an XLR out, that goes to a mic preamp, digital convertor, and into the DAW.
the switches on the top of the palmer give me line level attenuation, and 3 different 'cab and mic' sounds.
i like the NORMAL setting the best. It's all passive, the weber and the palmer, so i'm not introducing any kind of electrical noise at either of these two units.

on the weber:
the feel of the response to the speaker cab, seems and feels more natural to me than other attenuators i've used before.
but, i've got to run it almost maxed out to get the 'bedroom volume' control i want for actually using my speaker cab for monitoring.
luckily, i have a Demeter iso box, that i can use as a load box to run the weber a little hotter (less attenuation, i mean).
the little palmer pdi-09 unit is the thing that's stealing the true 'amp wide open' sound, so the weber is strictly for monitoring purposes..... i'm not micing the cab.
notice the (2) attenuators on the face of the weber.....
the mids/highs one on the right, just works a little bit...
most of the energy is going to the lows and mids, so the attenuator on the left i've got maxed out, and then backed off a bit (about 1) with the highs set at about 2 or 3.
when it's maxed out, i can actually hear the speaker motor inside the cage working.
oh my god, don't dare hit the bypass switch, when the amp has the master sitting on '7'.....
LOL.. that'll wake you up.
the boogie really sounds different, with the master almost wide open.
the entire tone stack, opens up, and the mids become very throaty.
the unit does get a bit hot...
and smells funny, at first, but the more it is used, the new burn smell goes away.
using these devices, allows you to re-think all of the gain structures, and choices of eq settings.
the pedals i use, seem to have more tone and control, now that i'm running the boogie at it's optimum setting for tube magic and transformer magic.