guitar vs amp vs effects processor

so i have a cheap electric and amp (which has a gain knob) and i can make only one purchase. guitar? amp?(with good distortion obviously) or effects processor? what do i buy first?

i want to play rock.

A guitar is the most essential part of your sound, and it should feel comfortable and inspiring to play. If you are not satisfied with your current guitar, or if it has serious issues such as poor intonation, faulty electronics, or structural damage, you might want to invest in a better one. A good guitar will last you a long time and can be upgraded with new pickups, hardware, or accessories later on. getting over it

The guitar i have is quite reasonable. it's cheap but plays well. i need advice about getting a new amp or go for a effects processor. thanks.

Honestly, there are so many options out there but here is my two cents worth.  Boss has several older pedal boards that you can purchase on Ebay for a reasonable price. They have the GT-8 & GT-10 which I own both of these, and they have MORE than you could ever want for an effects processor. You spend hours, days. weeks refining the sound you're looking for but there tons of presets that will most definitely fill that need.

Now, I run the GT-10 into a Peavey Classis 50/50 Stereo head into a 2X12 slanted cabinet. This amp is transparent (no sound coloring) so it's a fit to my needs with this pedal board.  The benefit to these pedal board is you can plus a set of headphones into them and ROCK out till you're DEAF.  

You can also go the same route with a Line 6 desktop and get what you want as well but I chose to go with a actual pedal board because of all the options you can do with them. I've own both of these for over 15 years with no issues whatsoever.

Nowadays, I'm at the point in my life where I just a clean sound with just enough overdrive but still be able to pick cleanly so I am researching a new amp for this, and I am leaning towards a Quilter Cub for what I am wanting to play these days. as a bedroom wanker wannabe.

Hope this helps....

Albert

Yeah, if the guitar plays well, then you have to ask if the amp is giving you the tone you want. Are you looking for breakup or distortion from the amp? Those are common rock tones obviously. If the amp won't do that, you may want to consider an overdrive pedal, which will get you into the crunch zone. And of course there are multi-effects pedals. I've never owned one, but most folks get very particular about a certain overdrive sound, and a certain fuzz sound, and a certain delay sound, etc. If you have just one unit providing all the effects, you're stuck with what it has on board.

Or, you can buy a different amp...but pedals are fun to explore, and there are some very good ones that are very inexpensive.

Enjoy the journey!