Would like a few opinions on stratocaster.

[Mastodon2]

I run a 100 watt Carvin Legacy combo, it has a 50 watt mode but I don't use it. A modern amp (with a gain knob) doesn't need to be played at stadium volumes in order to sound good. If you've got an old fashioned amp with no gain knob for the pre-amp and you want a distorted tone without using pedals then you will have to crank the volume right up, by which point it will be so painfully loud you won't want to be in the same room as it.

I find that even taking it to just over 1 on the volume for my Legacy moves enough air to really get that room-filling effect and gets enough drive for the power section to work properly on the lead channel. The clean channel just gets louder and louder, like a Fender. You don't need to have it so loud that your trousers flap in the breeze every time you play a note.

I tend not to go mental, but I do like to crank it up and play my guitar in the next room or down the hall from the amp. I've never had any complaints from my neighbours. I don't like SS amps, they're just not great bar a few expensive exceptions which imo are still not as good as a top tube amp and some good pedals. I don't like the sound of boxy little amps working hard, they just sound thin and fizzy, even stuff like the little 5150 III which is marketed as a powerhouse, it just doesn't have the real grunt and grind it's big brother offers.

[Tom_C76]

I've got a selection of amps and use them all at home. This includes a Marshall DSL 100W stack, a Marshall 1987x 50 (modified with a master volume) and the Fender Twin, which is switchable down to 25W. Then a couple of combos and a Marshall JMP1 1W head. Frankly through a 4x12 any of them can be almost offensive, and before it was modified the 1987X was downright dangerous, but I've never had an issue getting a better tone than I ever managed with my older SS gear.