Ah, my AC volume is rarely at full. Most of my AC use is next to my linux workstation, using the PC soundcard and speakers. I find it easier to keep the PC and speaker volume constant and adjust the empeg's volume. I make a point of reducing it before I unplug.

Now DC mode however...

Twice now people have borrowed my empeg. Once someone was debugging a sound problem that they thought was their empeg (wasn't...), and another time someone wanted to see how the backlight buttons looked in their car. Both times I forgot that my DC mode volume is fixed at -3dB 'cos I feed through another headunit.