The next step in finding your tone is a bit more obvious. It's the chain of guitar to pedalboard to amp. First off, do yourself a favor and play as many guitars as possible when buying a new one. And contrary to popular belief, brand and price are not everything. I've played many Mexican Fenders that sounded just as good as any American Fender. I've also played a few Squiers that seemed to be just as good as the average Mexican Fender. But consider things like wood (neck and body) and pickups. Maple fretboards produce a brighter sound than Rosewood. You wouldn't play death metal on a strat and wouldn't play blues on an Schecter with EMG pickups.
Next is your effects. This is something that is entirely based upon your opinion. Do you want pedals or multieffect pedals? Do you want your stuff on the floor or rackmount gear? The biggest thing is to consider budget. Individual pedals are great but can get really expensive really fast. Multieffect processors are cheaper and more convenient but can be limiting as far as sound possibilities. Rackmount gear (ex: TC Electronix G Force) can be extremely virsitile but fairly expensive and a pain to lug around. Again just experiment at your local music store. Do be cautious though, as you add pedals. For every pedal and inch of cable you add, you will begin to lose tone. This is because the best tone from your guitar is when it's plugged straight into your amp. Anything that comes in between (even true bypass pedals) will dilute tone. You will also want to make sure you have your pedals in the right order. Placing them out of order can make things sounds really weird. Generally, but not always, you'll want to go noise suppressor-tuner-wah-pitch shifting-boost-overdrive/distortion-delay-modulation-reverb. Volume pedals can really go anywhere, but most place them either first or right after your gain pedals. First can allow you to clean up your sound while keeping your OD pedal on because it will lower the signal going to the pedal. Putting it after your OD can allow you to lower your volume without losing gain, and allow for swells while maintaining your gain level. You want the noise suppressor (if you use one) very first so that you're only eliminating noise from the guitar. Some put it at the very end but, that can really suck a lot of tone. To me, a little hum is fine if it means my true tone still comes through. Beware for the sound guy to disagree.
Now when it comes to amps, you have enough options to make your head spin. The most common mistake that we all make in the beginning is getting the biggest, loudest amp we can get. Consider your situation. If you're playing in a small church, a Marshall stack is probably going to be overkill. However, if you're playing in a lot of different venues, you may want something with a bit more wattage. Just consider that you can always mic your amp. Personally, I prefer smaller tube amps because they will break up, giving more natural overdrive, at lower volumes. Also, make sure you use your amp to sculpt your EQ. Too many guitarists use their pedals to shape their sound, so when they go to a straight clean sound, it's fairly bland and weak (think Mark Tremonti--no offense to Alter Bridge and Creed fans). When looking between tube, solid state, modeling, and hybrid amps, just consider your budget and find the one that best fits you. (article discussing the differences to come later)
Other things to consider are things like cables and power supply. You see some people now that are playing $50 Monster cables and wiring their boards with George L or Lava cables. While these do give you a very nice tone, they get very expensive. However, don't go super cheap. Cables are the "veins" of your setup. Cheap cables will suck tone and break easily. Also, powering your pedals can effect things. A poor power supply can cause irritating hum. Batteries are great but then you're constantly changing them. The Visual Sound 1 Spot is very popular and cheap. You can power your whole board for about $30. However, I've heard some people say that it did not provide enough power. Most people seem to be very happy with the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power. These are great but a bit pricey. Personally, I use medium price range cables and a 1 Spot on my board and am satisfied with my tone. I've never had any issues with hum and major tone degradation. While better stuff would probably help, it's not worth the money to me since I'm already happy with my sound.
Lastly, look to your heroes. What are they playing? If you want to sound like Lincoln Brewster, don't buy a Les Paul. If you want to sound like Slash, a Tele into a Vox amp probably isn't the way to go. While you don't want to sound exactly like other players, you can take into account what they do to help influence your overall sound.
-Lance
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