There's a huge thread on the new Boss Katana over on the Gear Page, and it looks like an amazing bang for the buck type of amp.  I'm getting the 100w head, but there is a 50 watt combo that I think goes for $199.  I don't have mine yet, but I've heard it sounds pretty killer even at the low-watt setting. 
 
It seems to have the aux in, headphone jack, speaker emulated direct out, and other things you'd want.  Won't run on batteries though.  100w head even has a 5" speaker for low volume practice.

BobF
Love my Yammy THR10.  It really makes these sounds even without the tennis shoes

This times 10,000.
 
The THR just has no business making the sounds it does and it makes them at any volume level.
 
I've got the Fly as well, which is very nice 'n' all, but the THR completely kerb-stomps it.

ston

BobF
Love my Yammy THR10.  It really makes these sounds even without the tennis shoes

This times 10,000.
 
The THR just has no business making the sounds it does and it makes them at any volume level.
 
I've got the Fly as well, which is very nice 'n' all, but the THR completely kerb-stomps it.

For 5x the money, it should. Apples and oranges.
 
I'll take a closer look at it, but other things on my Black Friday list are calling for those dollars.

That's not apples and oranges :-p  It's cheap amp / expensive amp.  I agree that it should, the point is that it does.
 
I regret buying neither and use both a lot for noodling/practicing.

I bought an iRig UA from IK Multimedia.  
it plugs into your phone, running modeling software.  I'm really happy with it.  It's portable, has a great GUI, and can be used with headphones or into speakers/monitors.  The basic package is decent, but as with their Amplitube package there's upgrades for specific items.  It might suit your needs.
 
I've never used it in a live setting, but if you turned off the "interrupting" aspects of the phone I don't see why you couldn't.
 
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigua/
 

Cactus Music
I love my Blackstar http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ID15CombowFS
 

That looks very cool, might have to try one out.

Seems the OP has not responded so we are now in talking to ourselfs mode... That's OK lots of interesting stuff. But gee, $500 for a stomp box!!,,  That's the beauty of the Blackstar, They are very good bang for the buck. 

I though I had posted last night. I probably should have started by saying that I was looking at things comparable to the Roland Cube series.
 
The first thing I played was a mini cube.  If I left the store with it I probably would have been happy enough as it sounded fine and was the right size.
 
Next was the Spyder, which targets people who are more gain headed than I am.  I followed it up with the Mustang.  I liked maybe half of the amp models, but the floor model I was playing seemed pretty noisy.
 
I also played the Vox Mini 5 Rhythm.  About a third of the control panel is dedicated to a rhythm box, which was like an amped up version of what comes on your grandma's console organ.  I would have rather seen them use the space for more eq controls (it has a single tone knob) or better control of the effects.  Even so, I probably would have enjoyed having it.
 
I haven't seen any of the smaller Blackstar amps, so I don't have an opinion yet.  I also would like to try out one of the Vox VX I/II series, but haven't seen a working model of those either.

For playing while people are sleeping and for portability I use an iRig setup.
Decent tones, looper, drum kit available as add-0n and very portable.  Great for travel too.

Magic Russ
Next was the Spyder, which targets people who are more gain headed than I am.  I followed it up with the Mustang.  I liked maybe half of the amp models, but the floor model I was playing seemed pretty noisy.
 

I have a Spyder IV 150 - the clean sounds are good.  The trick is to ignore the presets and look in the manual for the specific amps it models and tweak to your needs.
I usually use pretty clean amps from it, usually either the Fender Twin or AC30 at the dirtiest.  Neither will stand up to the original amps for tone, but they're still decent.