batsbrew
i will say this..
no matter what attenuator you go for,
the more you attenuate,
the sh!!tier is will sound.
 
if you want to capture the sound of a Marshall, but attenuate it down to nothing, to get line level,
if it were me, 
i would build a 18 watt TMB clone,
and put a PPIMV on it, and maybe a half power switch,
and then run it wide open, and attenuate as little as possible.
 
this will sound WAY better than a 100w marshall attenuated to it's knees.
 
there are many excellent clones out there.......
 
look at something like the Suhr corso as well...
 
and the Victory BD1,
or even something like the new Line DT25, which rides the fence between tube power and modeling tech,
sounds better than most else i've heard.
 
 

i may end up doing something like that.  It just depends on how disappointing load boxing turns out to be...I really can't drive this room at all.  I need silence, not just quiet.  Solid state does that for me.  I have to believe I can go tube and still pull this off....
 
I want to check out the Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 5 watt today.  It has a power soak switch for silent recording, and a cab sim out, so probably a very resistive load.  This will be a kind of sound reference for me.   

The big advantage of a DI fed from the amp's speaker output with a loadbox replacing the speaker is that nothing is being attenuated - you're not reducing the output from the amp at all.

A better alternative to an attenuator that lowers the speaker volume is a lower powered amp. But a cranked five watt amp isn't much less loud than a 50 watt amp into the same speaker. It's half the volume, but for domestic purposes will easily carry through walls and floors. Lots of guitar speakers push out around 100dB with a 1 watt input.

The sub-one watt amps like the Blackheart, which uses a pair of 12AX7s, one in the preamp and one as the power amp for a total output of around 1/4 watt are more usable, especially with an inefficient speaker. Blackstar do a similar low-powered amp, though its drive channel seems horribly noisy. I've not tried a Z-Bex mini-amp because the high price and difficulty in obtaining replacement valves puts me off them.

Voda La Void

batsbrew
i will say this..
no matter what attenuator you go for,
the more you attenuate,
the sh!!tier is will sound.
 
if you want to capture the sound of a Marshall, but attenuate it down to nothing, to get line level,
if it were me, 
i would build a 18 watt TMB clone,
and put a PPIMV on it, and maybe a half power switch,
and then run it wide open, and attenuate as little as possible.
 
this will sound WAY better than a 100w marshall attenuated to it's knees.
 
there are many excellent clones out there.......
 
look at something like the Suhr corso as well...
 
and the Victory BD1,
or even something like the new Line DT25, which rides the fence between tube power and modeling tech,
sounds better than most else i've heard.
 
 

i may end up doing something like that.  It just depends on how disappointing load boxing turns out to be...I really can't drive this room at all.  I need silence, not just quiet.  Solid state does that for me.  I have to believe I can go tube and still pull this off....
 
I want to check out the Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 5 watt today.  It has a power soak switch for silent recording, and a cab sim out, so probably a very resistive load.  This will be a kind of sound reference for me.   

As I understand it, Hughes and Ketner use speaker impulse tech in their line outs. You can get info about it from their site. I know you can D/L their impulse responses to use in their gear. The tubemeister is a great little amp and quite a bargain.

ampfixer
 
As I understand it, Hughes and Ketner use speaker impulse tech in their line outs. You can get info about it from their site. I know you can D/L their impulse responses to use in their gear. The tubemeister is a great little amp and quite a bargain.

you know, i tried one of those H&K meisters,
was completely underwhelmed by it.
 
don't buy ANYTHING,
without trying it out first.
or at least have a great return policy........!