Intro and Practice Amp Question

[AlexL]

Morning.
First an Intro. I'm based in the UK, I have a degree in electronics, but that was 15 years ago and I work in an unrelated field. (spent 13 years as a project manager / analytical engineer, and am now an airline pilot), so the knowledge is all a bit rusty - but its in there somewhere!
Long term i'm planning (already got a few designs) a nice dual channel switching pre-amp with stereo FX loop, and a stereo power amp, probably 30-50W (so its playable in the house without deafening everyone, but also loud enough for a bit of jamming).
However for the immediate future I want to make a nice practice amp, say about 5W. I think the ruby and little gem amps are probably a little too small, I have no reason for battery power. I would like it to run off a 'wall wart' but I've probably got a couple of transformers in my box of electronics bits in the attic, so an AC supply isn't out of the question.
I've got a nice multi effects modelling pre-amp / pedal thing (KORK AX10) so I just want a basic clean sounding practice amp, to hook on it's output.

So at the end of all this ramble, is a question! Any suggestions on a good chip amp to use for such an application? There seem to be a lot of smaller (1/2w) amps around using the LM386 / TDA2003 etc, and alot of much more powerful ones using LM1875 etc, but I can't find any consensus about what to use at this power level. There are alot of chips around at this 5W power level, but I was just wondering if any of you had any suggestions or recommendations about what may be the best one to use.

[obelix]

I just happened to come upon a schematic for a small 8W amp just before seeing your post

http://www.mitedu.freeserve.co.uk/Circuits/Audio/tda8.htm

HTH