To get back on topic....I went through a phase of buying lots of pedals to get the sound I wanted. Eventually, I ended up where I am today, using a simple fairly low power (15w) single channel valve amp, no pedals and using the guitar controls to get the tone I want, whether it be bright, dark, clean or dirty. The amp and guitar are very well matched to allow me to do that and I manage to get good variety of tones depending what i'm playing. The amp has really good dynamics too, which helps, so even the picking can make a noticeable difference.