Re: Amp for dorm room.
Yeah for old threads!
Anyway... the modeling stuff hadn't really hit the scene when I lived in a dorm. Having dealt with a neighbor who liked to show off his 12" powered subwoofer (same guy also lived to put on movies starting at 9PM... but I digress...) I know what it is like to loath someone who chooses not to respect the wishes, and later demands, of his neighbors. I did not want to be that guy.
I took my 25 watt 12" solid state to my dorm, and even that was WAY too much amp for a dorm room. Now I live in an apartment building, and while I still own that same 25 watt amp, I practice almost exclusively on a modeler (guitar port to be exact). Had PODs or GuitarPorts been around my freshman year of college I certainly would have had one. Do everyone a favor and use headphones. If you need to make noise, buy a set of powered speakers or plug into the aux of a stereo system.
I understand that everyone wants their tube amp tone all the time, but lugging that kind of an amp in a dorm situation is plain dumb, IMO.