Driving the Mark V 90w for the best sound

Ok so NAMM has me GASing for new toys. I come across the Two Notes Captor X which has a bunch of great features including an attenuator.

I can get a decent bedroom(ish) volume out of the Mark V but am just wondering if having an attenuator and cranking the amp at home would make a difference. I.E. could I get a better sound at home (or rehearsals) out of it by running the thing louder and attenuating the signal? I'm currently going into a recto 2x12 vert slant cab. With the Captor X I could still do this but also could just go to FOH as well.

All this meandering probably brings me to my actual question.... What is the best way to drive the amp? Channel Volumes up high get a better sound? Or Channel Volumes to balance the sound and Master Volume up high to get the better sound?

Surely there is more goodness in the amp than what I've been doing since I've had it and that's running master vol on about 8.30/9am for home use

I play at home and don’t play all that loud. On my V my channel masters would sit on 10-11 o’clock with my overall output at about 9 o’clock and I’d attenuate that to about 25-50% volume using the torpedo reload. I did this mainly so I could have variable attenuation across multiple amps at hands reach since 1) my V didn’t sit near me and 2) my other amps don’t all have global masters.

I didn’t hear any significant difference in tone between using just lower output direct out of the amp or driving it harder and then attenuating. My understanding is mark series derive most of their tone from the preamp with power amp distortion and character being less influential than with other amps. Your experience may vary, especially if you play in that mid gain range of clipped clean to blues lead.

In a single amp setup I’d say there’s far more benefit out of the captor X with the ability to record the DI and choose your impulse responses after the fact. But it also depends, if you need to play really softly then maybe the attenuated higher output would sound better. It was a while ago but on the V that threshold where the tone starts to change dramatically and thin out was in the whisper volume terrible. Anything at talking volume or louder sounded good to me.

I have the full size v and have it hooked up with a rivera rock crusher and use the rock crusher for silent recording the V into my daw (killer). The rockcrusher also works as an attenuator and there is no difference in sound using the V's master vs the crusher's attenutator. I've also owned a thd hoptplate and got the same results.

Short story shorter, spend your money on something other than an attenuator for use with the V.