it's alllllll a matter of budget! if you're a newbie i'd buy an amp with some modelling in it just to get a bit of a confidence boost out of your guitar work, as you start getting more advanced you'd have to look into getting a guitar that suits you and has the write gear on it.

In terms of the amp you can also just get a modeller like a pod and plug it in to your existing amp but if you must have a new amp then go a line 6 or a roland cube for the modelling.

My understandin is that your guitar has single coil pickups which might not distort so well if they're the cheaper noisier kind, so that would be the only reason for upgrading your guitar so early in the game.

Pedal effects are EXPENSIVE and it's best waiting a while so that you know what you want and how you want it set up otherwise you're going to buy a heap of pedals and realise that you can do without some but you desperately need others. plus there's just that feeling you get from amp overdrive even if it is a transistor amp, i dunno it's just kinda cool :).

I take it you're looking to play some hard rock?