You shouldn't have to sleep in a dumpster for a decent amp. I've been reading good reviews by people whose opinion I respect about the Crate Palamino V 15 Watt. Definitely priced to sell, and apparently the tone is really good. 15 Watts is plenty for most situations, and I hear that it sounds better than its 30 Watt brother. I don't know what kind of reliability issues might arise later due to whatever cost-reduction techniques they applied to the design, but its worth checking out. One obvious place for a manufacturer to save money would be the speaker(s). A simple upgrade can turn a mediocre rig into a tone-monster. Look at the rest of the Vintage Club series, too.

Crate has a well-deserved shabby reputation for making cheap, crappy-sounding amps, but these product lines appear to be a solid effort to turn that situation around. Buy your gear based on what it sounds like, not what name is stencilled on the control panel.