Now Im not saying that if you can play well your gonna get a really great tone out of bad equipment, But alot of your sound really does come from you, I dont have the greatest amp in the world but when I play my strat on it I sound great, but when my friend tries and gets mad he doesnt have my sound all I can tell him is keep practicin! But as far as gear goes, I have a sweet american strat and a 30 watt fender amp w/ some pedals, sounds great.

If your like me and like great blues/rock tone, light/mild/to semi-heavy tone get a standard fender strat and some fender "hot noiseless pickups" and Marshall MG combo.

If you like a heavy sound get a Epiphone les paul and a marshall MG combo.

If your into shredding get and Ibanez rg or schecter c-1 artist and a high gain amp.

It all depends on what you want