It seems that your posts these days are related to things I own or have tested...
We have recorded using a mic in front of a cab, with an attenuator. The attenuator that was used was a Rivera RockCrusher (the version without the multiple band EQ).
It works ok, but you won't get the "Real" tone of your rig. For example:
We were recording a Dual Rectifier + Mesa OS Cab + SM57. Bypassing the Rivera, we set the Output of the Rectifier to get a decent sound. I mean, it was obviously too loud to do a complete jam session with that volume, but for a short test, we were not going to bother too many people. So, that being said, we recorded that test.
After that, we set the Rivera and tried multiple attenuation settings (-4, -8, all the way to the max, which is -20dB I think). For each test, we were adjusting the Output of the Rectifier to bring it back to a relative volume that was the same as our original recording.
And finally, we tested the attenuation with lower volumes. Meaning that we were still having a decent output level on the Rectifier, but the volume itself wasn't so loud. Like, we didn't need earplugs.
Conclusion: The best tone was the original one. At loud volumes, you get some speaker phenomenom that I can't explain, but it does something. It's not just a question of heating up the tubes. You also want some speaker movement I think.
Depending on the amount of attenuation, you affect the tone a lot, or not a lot. The more you attenuate, even if you keep cranking the output, you start to lose bottom and high end. You can flick the switches on the Rivera to compensate for that loss, and it does help a lot, but then you have "affected" your tone. Like it's not exactly how it is supposed to be.
And finally, if you attenuate a lot without turning up the output, for example to be able to record at bedroom volume, then you get a relatively completely different tone. Because of one: the modified attenuated tone, and two: the speaker won't behave the same.
So ya, that's about it.
Mind you, all of those tones were good. As I was saying, the "original" (bypassed Rivera) was the best one, but the other ones were very decent, that is for sure. I would definitely recommend trying it instead of IRs. You'd get your own sound and will be able to experiment.
