there is a guitar forum, that this question might be better served at.........

i am partial to mesa boogie stuff.
The mark series are very flexible.

i use a vintage mesa mark 2b, at 60 watts, and for live, it's plenty, for recording, it rattles the walls........
i built an isolation cabinet of sorts, to mic it up at volume.....

i also use blankets and other primitive methods...

but these are high wattage amps.

you probably want something with much less wattage, but it all depends..

you say hi gain...
that could be a million different models.
do you like tube or solid state sound?

i'm a tube purist, but it's all about flavor.
it's like asking someone "what's the best thing to eat?"

and when you get into the small wattage tube amps, that can do what you describe, you're talking a wide range of dinero.

could be a vintage Fender champ, for around $240.....

another fender way to go is the blues jr.

could be a dr. z maz-18
http://www.drzamps.com/maz18.html

the THD univalve is gaining a strong following
http://www.thdelectronics.com/products/univalve.htm

i like the bogner metropolis
http://www.bogneramplification.com/

here's a cool link, for a lot of general info:
http://www.amptone.com/index.html

I use an old Fender Twin Reverb that I modified slightly. First, I took out the 2 twelves and front mounted a JBL 15 E-130. You have to move the output transformer to one side so it doesn't hit the speaker basket, or put the speaker off-center, but that doesn't look as good, and may not sound as good. Secondly, I ran the output of channel one to the input of channel two for overdrive. So, plug into channel one for that old R+B dirt with Santana-like sustain, or into channel two (which disconnects the other) for the sweetest, fattest clean tone. Then I mic it with a vintage (sounding) tube condenser. Steve Cropper? Got it. Larry Carlton? Got it. Every guitarist who brings their axe in, always ends up leaving their amp out.

Brian

The Fender hot rod deluxe is very versitile, especially when it comes to an amazing classic clean tone. The overdrive is better for blues, but if you use a Boss metal zone with it, it should be excellent.
Another brand new amp that I just saw at the NAMM show, a friend got me in, is a Brawley. It is a 50 watt all tube design with excellent clean and overdrive channels. Sounded like a mix between a real boutique hand made amp and the best of an old style Fender Twin. The good news is it was only about $550.

for the sounds you metioned...pretty much THE amp to use is a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, ect. (what ever the more recent TRI one thay make is).
It's a good place to start for modern distortion stuff.
My personal favorites are the one mentioned.
AC30 Top Boost with cab. Bassman's, Deluxes, small gibsons & supros, airplane's, ect.
But what you really need are the hands...that's what makes all of the difference...