36 Watt vs 20 Watt Clean Headroom Question

[XS Chop]

Contemplating my first build, more than likely will be a Ceriatone kit, intending this to be my main gigging amp in medium size clubs. I know the obvious answer might be that the 36 watt 1974x TMB will have more clean headroom than the 20 watt 2061x but my experience having played the 18 watt and 20 watt is that the 2061x has quite a bit more headroom despite the similar wattage rating. Have never played a 36 watt version, wondering if anyone has A/B'd them and can comment on the clean headroom differences. Love both amps but tend towards the clarity of the tight lows and crisp highs of the 2061x. Either way, will end up as a 2x10 combo with a possible 1x12 extension cab if necessary. Thanks for any input you may have, decision has been driving me nuts and it's time to make a choice.

[menger66]

I've built 18 and 20 and 36 watters none of them have much clean head room, 18 and 36watters are about the same volume really the 36 pushs some more air and has a bit more thump, The 2061x with its bass and lead channels give some interesting tones. i really dig the bass channel as a clean channel it has a super cool edge of break up that i really like, now a trainwrek rockett might be more to you liking for a 2 or 4 el84 build with great cleans mark

[Stevem]

In most amps that have two of three gain stages ( and in some amps the PI section counts as a gain stage!) the signal level hitting the output tubes grid is plenty to drive the outputs into clipping before the preamp stages start to do that.
So in many amps the amount of clean head room is hit when the output stage starts to clip, and output stage distortion is a sweeter type of distortion than preamp is up to a point!
That being said, wattage wise the difference in volume between 20 watts and 36 watts is not that much, for example, if you wanted to gain twice the volume and twice the clean head room over a 20 watt amp you would have to step up to a output stage of 200 watts!!
If most of your playing needs are for clean tones than you can back down on the drive signal level and find yourself the needed balance between max clean and dirt for any given amp!