the iso cabinet is a great idea for you. you can build one yourself, not really all that hard, it will allow you to record your amp full blast, your (advised) dependency on earplugs will be lessened, etc.
You may not love Ed Van Halen but he (reportedly) got his signature overdriven sound by dialing everything to 10, everything. plus some other stuff I know I know, but the point here is you can squeeze all the overdrive out of your amp by diming the beast.
+1 for master vol set to 10 and dial in the gain.