Well, playing with the band with my BF '65 DR was getting me nervous - but I love that sound.
Last night, I brough the Mission 5E3 that I built with the 15" Jensen. I added my Weber MiniMass to keep the volume down. Last week, I picked up an EH Holy Grail reverb as I love reverb and the 5E3 doesn't have reverb.
Anyway, I think I found something that works. The tone was unreal and just got fatter and fatter as the night went on (I had to keep backing off the Mass as the amp got cooking). The Holy Grail sounded great. It adds a little hiss but nothing more than the hiss I get from my BF DR's reverb. The only pedal necessary was my Klon. I pulled the Keely Rat to make room for the EH HG. I even pulled my beloved Z Vex SHO - (ya can't say a 5E3 needs any more boost eh?). The volume knob cleaned things up nicely....the Klon added the over the top sound.
I did have to get the amp off the floor for it to sound right but that just added some fun playing with feedback. The 15" Jensen just kicked butt.
Anyway - problem solved....rig is much simpler...tone to die for. Fear of trashing my vintage amp gone.