Originally Posted by: dlwalkeIn a few weeks, I anticipate I will be buying my first amp.[/quote]

Good deal! I encourage you to try several before you buy. You might want to take your guitar to try out amps. Or you could just use a guitar in the store that is similar to yours.

It sounds like you have a good idea of what will fit your needs. Most of the small combos these days are all great stuff. Boss Katana, Line6, Fender Mustang, MircoCube, are all fine amps with lots of features. They are all capable of practically any style of music.

Last year I got a Boss Katana 50 and it is an outstanding small practice amp! Can't beat it for what's included in such a small package & low price. I expected to mostly just use it for home practice. But I've even used it for studio recording & at gigs! :)

Originally Posted by: dlwalkeHowever, most of them also have effects, like reverb, chorus, flange, delay. By themselves (e.g., in a pedal), these effects would be $300-$400 not counting the modeling feature. So I'm just confused about how these companies can sell an amp like this for under $200 typically. Where is the quality being sacrificed (I assume it must be somewhere unless pedals are vastly overpriced) - in the speaker, the amp electronics, the efx?[/quote]

This is a great question. The advances in digital technology have made it possible to put all those effects & amp models into software on chips & in a small package! They are so good in quality that they are virtually indistingushable from the analog counterparts (amps & effect units) they were modeled on in the first place. So, most of the answer is that it's a great bargain to get everything in one machine.

And part of the answer is that pedals are relatively expensive. :) You can still buy individual pedals, but you will pay an extra price for the privilege. After all it still costs money to produce those as separate units. But it's just not necessary in order to get those tones.

Some people still like to use older amps & still like having the effects in pedal form. I have both! I have some older amps I love the sound of & pedals that work well with them. But I love the new tech as well & spend just as much time playing my Katana.

If you are just starting out buying gear, I'd say the best way to go is the all in one digital amp.

Originally Posted by: dlwalkeI can add effect pedals later but I don't even see that there are many (or any) options for practice/bedroom amps without these effects.

Or you can just turn them off!

[quote=dlwalke]Assuming I don't need much volume, will I be happy with the sound of these amps?

Yes. But why not take a trip to the local music store just make sure? :)

[quote=dlwalke]Would I be better off getting a higher wattage amp and/or a tube amp where I never take the volume knob past 2?

I think the answer here is pretty clearly no. Most bigger amps only work well when you can crank them.

Hope this helps. Happy gear shopping!