A great cheaper distortion is the Dano mini Pasyrami pedal...unfortunately it cant take too much beating as it has a plastic casing.
Boss Od1 is a decent pedal...I played one, but never owned one so I cant say for sure.
Marshall make nice distortion aswell, try the Guvnor.
Good Luck...just find a sound you like.
Andrew
[FONT=Century Gothic]Hope is when we feel the pain that makes us try again[/FONT]