Big tube amp at home

[MD]

From what I have read here most people would buy tube amp and use it but they are not doing it because of volume levels and overall loudness which makes it impossible to use such fine amp at home/basement.
I have that problem too - I used to play only tube amps for many years (hmm.. most of these amps had no master), now I am using flextone II which is not what I like (not only in tone area, but real problem is how it reacts to my playing). I use it only because I have neighbours and small kids around.
I am planning to buy Triaxis + 2:90 (because I think it only sounds good with this particular power amp, whatever, this is different topic) and I have two choices.

a) Kill everyone and their flowers around, running 2:90 at 5 at 3 am (I usually play at 3 am) and leave only a wasteland and burnt ground around me.

b) build something I can put speakers in, so it would mute loudness, put mic in it (I don't care about room ambience etc., I can always do it in the studio if I need) and route it to a mixer and headphones/monitors. I have seen it in the studio one time and it worked.
One more thing - it should be as compact as possible, like chest or box.

Choice a) is not possible. I like flowers.
Question is if anyone here uses variant b and how to do it - any links, suggestions etc.

Thanks in advance.

[bluenote]

im not sure exactly what you are asking, but what i gather you are concerned about achieving a good tube tone at low volumes.....the simple answer is this; any modern master volume amp can achieve this.....most modern amps are preamp tube distortion and dont rely on the power tubes at all.....the mesa you want is like this....as long as you find a good amp that has the tone you are searching for, you will be fine

in order to achieve the power tube distortion, you must turn the amp up to ungodly amounts of volume.....turning it to 5 will not get the clipping of the power tubes....this usually occurs at about 9 or 10.....a good way to find it on your amp is to turn the volume up gradually...at the point where the amp doesnt get louder no matter how far you turn the knob, this is when you get the power tubes to distort.....most people dont realize this.....you could aways buy a thd hotplate if you wanted to drive your amp at safe hearing levels.....

so, it really doesnt matter much unless you plan to drive the power tubes

[rickboot]

The amptone page has links to several isolation cab solutions, including info on DIY designs:

http://www.amptone.com/index.html#preampvspowertube

Some info on building a low-power amp:
http://www.netaxs.com/~lxh2/lxh2.html

Also, FWIW I have a THD. It doesn't impair tone much when providing 12-16db of attenuation. Note that 16db is a noticeable volume drop but it isn't much. A 2:90 will still be *very* loud when cranked enough to generate power amp distortion. You can attenuate the signal more with the THD, but it does take a toll on tone. I prefer the sound of just turning down the volume over trying to attenuate past 16db.

Please let me know how the iso cab works out.

Rick

[MD]

Isolation cab *- thats exactly what I need. Thanks for links, I'll try it - I think in 2-3 months I'll have my system set-up then I'll let you know if it still kills my neighbours or not.

Thank you for reply.