Unusual Amp. Mod question

[Grant Kester <gkester@xxxxxxxx>]

Dear Harp-L Folks,

I have a somewhat unusual problem vis a vis amp. volume. I play with an 
acoustic guitarist and a pedal steel player (folk, blues stuff). We 
usually play in coffee houses, etc. (small venues, relatively quiet). I 
play some songs through an SM57 into the PA but we also do some blues 
things where I like to have a bit more of a distorted sound. I've been 
using a great little amp (a '59 Gibson Skylark) with an Electrovoice 
638. I love this combination, the tone is crunchy but not TOO 
distorted. The problem is that even this little 5 watt amp can be TOO 
LOUD! It's got surprising volume for such a small amp, and if I get it 
past 4 or so on the volume pot it's too much. It's frustrating to not 
be able to get the tone I want out of the amp, but I can't drown out my 
band mates either. Our guitarist said it might be possible to have an 
amp. tech. wire a (switchable) resistor to the speaker line that would 
allow me to keep the tone at a lower volume. Has anyone done this? I'm 
really reluctant to meddle with this amp and I don' t want to do this 
if it won't make a significant difference. I also thought about using a 
Harp Commander (either with the amp, or just with the SM57 into the 
PA), but I'd really like to know if it would help my volume problem 
before spending that kind of money. Any thoughts? I know harp players 
usually have the opposite problem (can't get enough volume), so maybe 
this is a rare situation.

Thanks,
Grant Kester
gkester@xxxxxxxx

p.s. my apologies for any multiple postings of this query; I mistakenly 
used the old "garply" heading when I first tried to send it.