Q: I have a Fender Bassman Reissue that I’m thrilled with. However, it’s pretty loud. Too loud in many cases to get the amp to overdrive. For screaming distortion, I’m happy with my Ibanez TS808, but what can I do for a light overdrive sound?
A: Congrats on owning a great amp!
The first thing we would suggest trying is to set up your TubeScreamer for the distortion you like for your lead, then pull back your guitar’s volume knob to drop the distortion and volume back. This should clean up the sound, resulting in a lighter distortion, but with similar tone to what you had with the heavier distortion.
Another option might be to try some other overdrive pedals to attain the light overdrive you’re after, then use your TubeScreamer to give you the heavier distortion. It’s not uncommon for players to cascade two TubeScreamers, for example – Stevie Ray Vaughan was one player who did this. One pedal is the “rhythm” sound, then stepping on the second pedal kicks things into the lead sound. There are many pedals out there; Sweetwater carries a wide selection of distortion/overdrives from Visual Sound, Boss, TC Electronic, Digitech, Radial Engineering, Pro Co, MXR, Damage Control, Electro-Harmonix, Line 6, Vox, Voodoo Lab, and many others.
You might try a few things to get the amp itself to overdrive a bit. One option might be to use lower-output power tubes in the amp, to reduce the volume. A less efficient speaker will also produce less volume for the same amp power output.
A power attenuator might work, though some players feel these change the tone and “feel” of the amp. Be sure to check with the amp and attenuator manufacturers first to ensure that your amp and/or speakers won’t be damaged.