how do i get my combo amp louder w/o killing the sound?

Try this
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Danelectro-DJ14-Fish-and-Chips-7Band-EQ-Pedal?sku=151873

A great little EQ pedal for not a lot of money. EQ pedals help with tone.

By the way, Welcome to the boards!

You only need to turn it up load when you're gigging, right? If so, you could check if there's a PA system where you gig and connect to that.
This way you could play you're amp through the speakers at the place.

Man that's weird, My Peavey Backstage Plus get's unbearablly loud at 35 watts if anything the tone gets better. I just can't handle the high volumes.

im recently using a Peavey Bandit 112. my problem is that when i turn it up too loud it kills the tone and makes it sound horrible. i would get a noise compressor or something but im not the richest person in the world. does anyone have any suggestions on how to get it louder and sounding better?

The solution depends on what is going on.

Is the amp buzzing with noise when you aren't playing guitar?
Does it sound bad when you are playing (i.e. bad tone)?

A noise compressor will cut the signal when you're not playing the guitar.
Another solution may be to add sheilding to your guitar to reduce pickup noise.

If it sounds bad when you're playing, it might be that the amp or speakers can't handle that much power.
A high-quality replacement speaker could help if it's the speaker that's giving in (some call it speaker "farting").
Another solution is a second external speaker.

Solid state amps (and stereos) will distort at higher volume settings, and the distortion isn't pleasant sounding.
If that's the case, you might want to consider a higher wattage amp.