I say ditch the plan to change guitars and get a nice amp first.
If you can acquire a tube amp, better. Push the tubes and get a nice crunch out of it. A clean boost pedal, a delay and maybe a wah will take you a long way if you want to play blues and rock.
If you go the solid state route, i say, get a nice overdrive pedal with a wide gain range. Again, i'd throw in a clean boost pedal (or another OD pedal), a delay and a wah into the mix.
I'd also go for a tremolo or a univibe pedal, or even a phaser over the chorus. But that's just me.
![Smiley :)](http://talk.philmusic.com/Smileys/default/haha.png)
Good luck on the hunt.