There are also still some very good (and mostly pricey!) tube type hi-fi amplifiers around. A lot of tubes for audio amplifiers come from Russia.
But, to your own question, assuming the color of the LED light is ok*, it sounds to me like 200 lumens is just too bright for your application, and the dimmer in the lamp is not very good. I would pick a considerably lower lumen output bulb.
Also, “clear” bulbs of any type will tend to give off a harsher light than do frosted bulbs, which are more diffuse. When the light is coming from a small intense area or areas / sections, it is of course more uncomfortable if your gaze strays toward the lamp. Shadows are also “sharper”, and in the case of multiple small segments giving off light, you can have multi-edge shadows, which may subconsciously bother some people. “Frosting” of the glass or plastic exterior of a bulb diffuses these effects and “softens” the light. The bigger the exterior / cover / diffuser / globe, for the same internal output, the less of a point source you will have. So, if it will fit, you may want to try a soft / frosted globe with low lumen output and the correct base.
*Maybe there is a color output characteristic of the LED bulbs’ light that you do not like. This seems unlikely, as unlike CFL’s (the little spiral fluorescent bulbs), a decent quality warm white LED bulb will have very little output in the upper part of the blue range and on into UV (ultraviolet) light. CFL’s usually have a narrow blue spike and some UV: That’s not “eye friendly” and the blue spike makes the light seem unnatural to many people. Warm white CFL’s just don’t approximate a flame quite correctly. The same is true of warm while LED’s with poor phosphors. I find most LED bulbs are free from such problems, though some cheapo’s from China have an odd, almost greenish tint to them. You should not run into that with most any good brand name: Even “Great Value” (Wal-Mart) LED bulbs seem fine. I have more problems with abrupt failures in lesser brands, than color spectrum dislikes.
I see there are already several warnings above about heat from an incandescent bulb placed in a socket rated only for LED bulbs, but, really, you should be able to find a low output, “soft”, warm white LED bulb to do the trick for you.
Please let us know how it goes!
I bought some Wal-Mart LED chandelier base with the orangish bars in them. The color tone was really warm and I liked them, but one failed very quickly and another just lasted about as long as an incandescent. So I'm replacing them with Phillips bulbs from HD or Lowes, they seem to last better although the light is whiter and I don't like that as much in that usage.
The Phillips were 4 watt 300 lumen but fully dimable.