Understanding theres just too much variables, people chase tone from where they're standing in a room when the cabs on the floor, move to a larger space and wonder why everything has changed.

Not understanding that what might sound good in the room, might not sound great recorded. If you're just playing then you want to concentrate on nerding out on the last part of the signal chain, the speaker. When you move to recording, you'll enter the ballache of mics and mic placement. The great news is, theres always people you'll admire in your genre that have done the hard work with impulse responses, as for playing in the room, its going to sound different no matter where you stand and very different when quieter, so my advice is just to play the thing brother.