help me get this tone at very low volume

[project_c]

I have a Bassman TV 15 amp and my basses sound great going through it at loud volume (gain up, volume up). I'm trying to achieve the same kind of tone at very low, home practice volume. I'm in an apartment with thin walls, so we're talking super low volume, master volume maybe around 2 or 3 on the amp maximum, with the gain maxed out. Are there any pedals that can give me that loud driven amp tone without having to push my amp to unfriendly volumes? Not distorted or massively overdriven, but more like this:
Fender Road Word JBass + Bassman TV Duo Ten - YouTube
..but without an angry neighbour at my door.
(The sound in that video has most likely been DI'd and mixed with the mic'd signal, and then compressed and EQ'd to sound perfect, but it gives a good indication of the kind of thing I'm talking about nevertheless).

thanks

[caeman]

One suggestion: An attenuator between amp and speaker.

[scottfeldstein]

You could always do what us solid state guys do: get a SansAmp VT, SansAmp Bass Driver or an Aguilar Tone Hammer.

[project_c]

Originally Posted by caeman

One suggestion: An attenuator between amp and speaker.

I'm not sure what this means but it sounds intriguing - however I don't think I can get in between the two that easily because I'm using a combo.

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

You could always do what us solid state guys do: get a SansAmp VT, SansAmp Bass Driver or an Aguilar Tone Hammer.

I have actually tried all of these in the past and found them all to distort the signal too much - although I have not tried any of them using this particular combo, so it may be worth giving them another shot. Which of those pedals would you recommend to just give the signal a touch of dirt and drive without actual distortion and drastic tone alteration? The signal would be coming straight from a Precision and a Sadowsky PJ and they both sound really good, so I don't want to mess with the original tone very much, I just want to give the signal a bit of a push.

[scottfeldstein]

Originally Posted by project_c

Which of those pedals would you recommend to just give the signal a touch of dirt and drive without actual distortion and drastic tone alteration?

Maybe stay away from the Bass Driver. It's got some kind of "cab emulation" circuitry going on that does indeed mess with one's EQ. I'm kind of high on the Tone Hammer right now, although it's really just based on stuff I've read here and things I can hear on youtube. Check this out.

Aguilar Tone Hammer AGS Circuit Demo - YouTube

[bigchiefbc]

Tech 21 Blonde is a pedal that is specifically designed to get Fender tones. You might want to check that out. The character series is really good at copping specific amps. I use the Tech 21 Leeds, and it totally nails the Hiwatt tone.

[bassbrad]

The Bassman model on the Zoom pedals is very accurate and also on the Line 6 as well as the Tech 21 stuff.
If you check out the Zoom stuff consider one of the guitar versions since you enjoy a warmly pushed tone, I use a G1x that really gets that sound.

[caeman]

Just for complete information, should you find yourself in a non-combo amp situation...

Attenuators

There are others, but that page does a good job of explaining how its done. The end result is you get your amp head's tone, but less of the volume.