[Perndog]

For pedals, I agree with the Metal Zone suggestion; it's made by Boss. A 7 band EQ pedal will do wonders for your tone and you can get a workable one for like $30 (Danelectro mini pedal). Otherwise, Ibanez and DigiTech both make some good distortions.

Despite what Darko says it's plenty easy to have a tight sound at stage volumes with a distortion pedal, as long as your amp's clean sound is okay.

But if you want to get as much stuff for as little money as possible, I agree with the multi-effects idea. I've had good experiences with DigiTech's processors, and a couple of their models are pretty expensive. The Zoom 505 and 606 are really popular, too.

(I use pedals exclusively on stage at the moment and go to a processor for the studio. To go pedals, rack, or multi-FX is really a personal choice.)