For a do-anything small home amp I've been pretty impressed by my Fender Superchamp XD. Admittedly it sounds better running through a decent 1x12 cabinet but it's quite acceptable on its own (built-in 1x10). It certainly has more oomph than you'll ever need at 15 watts, and with the two channels you'll be able to play around without having to build a collection of pedals that you never use.
Re: the small tube head trend--I have played through many--even own a couple--and the only one I play anymore is the Vox AC4TVH. It was damned cheap, sounds decent (though not great), and has an attenuator to run it at 4, 1, and 1/4 watts. Frankly the 1/4 watt setting is still too loud (according to my wife
). And I'm pretty sure the Tone knob isn't connected to anything.