I went for the dedicated practice amp because I went through all this to get a good sound living in an apartment. In the end, the amp I use is the prototype for the Lexicon Signature 284 (mine has one channel with a 6V6 and one with an EL84, rather than the 2 EL84's in the Lexicon). I also have the first production Lexicon because of my involvement. Thsi is a stereo all valve 3watt per channel amp.
The only thing that I would say is that it is important to use good speakers and there is a point at which the sound will not do it if you turn down too much. I also think that there is a hugh difference in sound between big bottle and small bottle valves (EL34 vs EL84).
I am interested in getting a low power EL34 amp but currently the only one I have found is the Fargen mini-plex which is over $1,000. For recording chord work, I prefer a larger amp with more headroom and a multi-speaker set up.
Also, I should add that the largest amp I have ever used (and this includes playing to more than 2,000 people), is 50watts, other than one gig where I had one of the original Marshall MV100's, but I returned it the next day! I always prefered the sound of the 50's cranked a bit more, over the 100's.
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