I think it all depends on what sound you are going for. I for one am not a purest by any mark on tone. Some people will tell you all you need is your volume control and a nice tube amp. That is there gig. But if you listen to anything Metal, Prog, Hard Rock, Indie, etc. etc. etc. You will need pedals to achieve lots of those tones. What you are going to buy will depend on what you want to play. And I would say get a Bad Monkey overdrive. Dont go with a danelectro dont do the price thing you will regret it. Check out the Digitech Bad Monkey. great sounds and if you already have a distortion on your amp stack them to get some gnarly grunge tones.