One of my favorite tricks with Single Channel amps without channel switching:
Use a Volume Knob Box!
I took a small MXR enclosure, and wired in a 500K Potentiometer with a no-treble-loss cap/resistor, in and out jacks, and a 3PDT True Bypass Footswitch. (Got all the parts at
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com - probably costs $20 total)
So if you're not a distortion pedal type of guy, and you want the overdrive to come from the AMP, then you can set that Rebel to maximum gain, and instead of rolling back your volume knob on your guitar, you can step on your Volume Box, and instantly go to a preset volume level, every time.