I think you need to decide what you want your sound to be like. All those fancy effects you hear on a recorded song were laid-on after the guitar track was cut!

I wasted a lot of years, and a helluva lot of money, chasing a way to get studio sound on stage. Forget it!

You want a guitar-and-amp combination that lets you create the sounds that allow you to express yourself. I found that that comes from a well-set-up guitar, and an amp that lets people hear what I do with that guitar. The weird sh!t that gets added in the studio can enhance that (if it's done right!), but it all starts with a good guitar, and a good amp. And a skilled pair of hands.