what pedals do you use with your vintage ampeg?

[Liquids]

that sounds like good info to me.
i remember the rat pedal from the early 80's and it did sound good.
i dont think i want a tube screamer type... would that work at lower volumes?
i like an 80's crunchy sound. i have a jcm800, but i prefer to use my crate v5112 for gigs.

i'm just noodling at home with the ampegs. no real intention to gig with them altho i did buy a reverberocket 2 because of the smaller size; so maybe...

The tube screamer type circuit, when it's set for higher drive settings, is a bit more of a 'tame' sound than a marshall/rat/distortion+ type crunch that you spoke of. The tubescreamer tends to feel a bit more compressed when set for higher drive. There is certainly overlap in all of these things, and these are broad generalities. There is no substitute for going to a store/borrowing someone's and comparing them for yourself when possible.

I think the Rat is a good tried-and-true, affordable starting point that is not too hard to track down, if you don't want to try out a multitude of pedals to find a very particular one that you like best--there are PLENTY of other good pedals that will yield interesting variations on the crunch sound, but yeah, the RAT is good, cheap, simple, and classic.