Your biggest bang for your buck will likely be a vintage refurbed EL34 based amp like the Dynaco . It is a good suggestion.
If you want the real tube-ey sweet nostolgic soud you'll find the EL 84 amps and variant EL 84 amps will give you that. The problem is that they are not, as a general rule, as powerful as the EL 34 or the 6L6 amps.
You will find the honestly refurbed frequently by a true phile themselves here. Ebay is rife with 'as is' 'as found' trash pickings.
I would add used QuickSilver amps to the check it out list.
I absolutely agree with using as much power as you can. That said I have never liked a digital switching amp even though they are supposedly 100 watts and higher. There are some really good ICE amps I'm told but have yet to hear one. Beyond which tubes are simply magic.