80's guy as well, I just do the bedroom setup these days as well, my gigging days are over. Dokken and Ratt type tone is pretty much the standard for me. I went down the path for awhile of all the modern tech like modelers...never satisfied in the long term. Tried low wattage amps, never gave me the goods (some 100W amps at whisper volume honestly sounded better).
Finally stumbled on to something really old school and simple...stacked OD's and an EQ. I can pair an SD1 with a BE OD or EVH 5150 OD, then an EQ (MXR 10 band is my favorite), and I've got the core tone and it sounds amazing. It has to be all 3 pedals too, it doesn't come alive until they are all working together. MXR Stereo Chorus and a Carbon Copy round out the chain, though some guys might want reverb added (I run the CC as a mild slapback and that's all I need). All run into a small clean practice amp.
I spend so many more hours just playing now versus trying to adjust tons of digital settings, and so easy to make small adjustments on the fly. When I play the low E riff on something like In My Dreams or Unchain the Night, it just sounds "right"...has that tightness and chunk with plenty of gain. The pedal combination with the right EQ can really dial out the fizz but get some bite without getting too smooth. I'll be honest, while it will never replace the real thing, still more "organic" to my ears than modelers I've used in the past.