I have to agree with the hairbndrckr. One of the amps that I have is an old Fender Princeton 60 that is tube driven and I rarely have to turn it over 2 1/2. If I turn it up to 5 it's almost deafening. The best advice is to go to your local music store and play around with the amps in there. Tubes are going to be MUCH louder than most solid state amps and you also get the punch that I think you're looking for too.

From what you've told us, a good 50 watter should do you just fine until you learn more and define what your sound is going to be. Sometimes the only way to learn is to experience it. I had a problem trying to decide what amp/guitar/effects and such to buy. Getting advice here helped alot but until I started to understand what I wanted to do (and I'm still doing that) not too much made sense, most things sounded alike or close enough that it was frustrating to decide where to invest your money.