We have all been there. Wanting to try out a guitar amp in a store but most of the stores won't even allow it unless they have a demo room. They will sometimes allow it but they expect you to leave the volume down so as to not disrupt the other shoppers. That sucks. Especially if you are in the market for a tube amp. We all know that tube amps sound horrible while at low volumes. So how do you know what an amp is capable of? Well amps are exspensive, and if you are going to pay around a thousand bucks for an amp then you should know what you are getting. I would take along two e.q. pedals with me. I would hook them up one between the guitar and amp and one in the effects loop. I would give the first one a slight frown curve going into the amp and the one in the loop i would give a slight smile curve. If you are scarred to turn it up in the store to hear the tube sound then take along a THD hotplate. These do not hurt your amp or it's tubes regardless of what the sales man might tell you. The misconception is that they ware out your tubes faster. First of all this is untrue. Secondly it wouldn't matter in a few minutes of playing in the store anyway. The reason this misconception existence is because turning your amp all the way up will make your tubes last a shorter time because they are working harder. This is what is going on with using a hotplate. The hotplate isn't responsible for your tubes short life but rather the volume. Your tubes would last the same time if you played at full volume constantly.
I hope this approach really lets you make a more informed decision when purchasing an amp. I also hope that your local guitar salesman is cooperative with your approach to trying an amp out. Im sure if he knows you have money in hand and will definitley be leaving with an amp that he will not want to loose your thousand bucks.
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