SOUND CLIPS

I have been messing around with finding the right blend of amp breakup and OD from my pedals to yield the higher gain I wan't for lead stuff.  I have been experimenting with finding the sweet spot on the amp (the EP Booster does a really good job of helping to anchor the amp in the "sweet spot")
I use a single channel amp thats clean but breaks up really well and stays sweet no matter how hard you push it.  Its a Komet Songwriter 30.  Very basic but awesome.  Not FX Loop, no reverb.  In the past I have always dialed in my clean tone and pretty much relied fully on a high gain pedal for lead/tock rhythms, but lately I've been digging the sounds i can get by pushing the amp a little harder, (again the EP is awesome for this because it allows me to drive my amp a little harder but it also seems to boost up some headroom in conjunction with added grit like its able to somehow do both at the same time....magic?) and using lighter OD pedals in a way that combines with the amp grit to give me the gain I need with added articulation and versatility. 
I didn't have my Komet today since its in the band trailer, but I did record a few tracks to demonstrate this using my little Blues Jr.  I recorded so could A/B different settings and sit back and compare, then I got carried away and laid down a rhythm track, bass track and drum loop and recorded over the track a few different times with a few different sounds

1) Lead tone from a stock tubescreamer. 
the first is my guitar into my pedal board and the pedals I'm using, in order, are a stock TS9 (gain on full, tone on 9 o'clock, volume noon'ish) EP Booster (factory DIP switch settings, knob at noon) then a little delay via a carbon copy then out to the amp which is set to clean'ish/gnarly break up. EQ pretty flat, reverb OFF on the amp but added on the recording.

http://soundcloud.com/adcard/ts9

2) Turning a high gain pedal down to combine with the dirty amp
The next one is the same as the previous except instead of the TS9, i am using a Suhr Riot pedal, which is an extremely high gain pedal great for putting in front of CLEAN amp but has to be dialed back if the amp is breaking up.  I am running the pedal with the gain knob at about 1-2 o'clock, tone down to 9 o'clock and volume is equal to whatever the output was of the TS9.  Everything else is exactly the same.

http://soundcloud.com/adcard/mixdown

3) biting clean'ish tone
this is my tone without the OD pedals, I used an xotic AC Booster as a clean boost increase my volume a little bit.  The ac booster's gain knob is almost all the way down, volume set to 1-3dB boost, treble around 2 o'clock and bass around 3 o'clock.  The EQ was set to not alter my tone brighter or darker but just be pretty much a clean boost (actually I would have just gotten up and turned the amp up a bit to record this clip but I was all situated with my guitar and headphones and cables all over the place so i just bumped up the volume with using the AC. Everything else the same as before.

http://soundcloud.com/adcard/cleanac2

Everything was recorded on my PRS custom 22 with Lollar PAF pickups. All parts were recorded on the bridge pickup.  The strings were as dead as strings could be so with new strings I imagine everything would have been a little clearer.

I kinda like how some of these tones sound and feel.  I still have to try using this setup on a few gigs before I decided if its really usable in an actual gig.