The best sounding amp is one that is all tube. You just can't fudge good clean tone. A Class A or A/B tube amp will also break up nicely and give you natural compression and sustain. Great tube amp buys can be found with Crate (palomino group), BlackStar, Carvin & Traynor for example. Find the clean you want and add pedals to give you everything from basic distortion to metal.