As far as amps go, I've never been able to afford the high dollar ones, but Peavey has always ended up being my brand of choice. But next I'm going the power amp/cab route, as I also am looking for just amping modeled tones from my Podxt. You might also consider a powered mixer.

I've had this Yamaha mixer on my wishlist for awhile. I'll pair that with a pair of 10" monitors. And later if I want/need to go bigger, I can add bigger cabs. That's just the one I want, but you can surely find cheaper ones if you don't need all those features.

As I don't currently have a mixer either, it will serve that purpose too. That way I can have the extra inputs for a cd player, other guitars/basses, or whatever audio signal (drum machine, mics, etc) and be able to...well...mix it all.