+1 to all of sean's advice. Just how loud is "stage volume" to you? If you're cranking the amp to the point where you'd need earplugs to be in the same room, chances are it's too loud. Try turning the amp down a bit if this is the case. Your problem definitely sounds like mic position to me. Just because you have a mic in front of a speaker doesn't mean you're going to get the same sound in it that you're getting out of the speaker. Especially with something that's close miced, very small adjustments can make a drastic difference in tone. Generally speaking, the center of a speaker cone has a very bright sound, really heavy in the high end. Moving further out to the edge of the speaker will increase the low end. Remember we're just talking about having the mic pointed straight in at the speaker now too... if you angle the mic differently, that will also change the sound. As a starting point I like to try putting the close mic about halfway between the outer edge and center of the speaker cone, with the front of the mic angled in a bit towards the center of the speaker. Then put on some headphones and listen to the difference it makes as you move the mic around. Like seaneldon said, try moving the mic back & forth across the speaker, angling it different ways, moving more towards top or bottom until you get a sound like you want. After you do all that, then you can start worrying about the AT4040. If you're still not liking the sound you get out of the close mic, throw the 4040 back a couple feet from the amp. Move it around and blend it with the close mic. Good luck