Durham Lad

Are DR strings available in Britain? They may be a tad louder than some others, but a Dobro thumbpick (plastic) and Dunlop steel finger picks would certainly help.

As for attack, when finger-picking, resting the heel of your thumb just forward of bridge on the guitar top can add 'purchase' and enable you to increase the strength of your attack. This affects tone of course, but you may like the cut-through tone it produces.(experiment with location)