I NEED HELP!!!

I currently own a les paul standard by epiphone, 10watt marshall amp and a jim dunlop cry baby wah.
Im gonna up grade tho!! But where do i start?
i tried out the AVT100 valvestate marshall amp, it was awesome, but cost 420 pounds. The sales guy said i would need an effects pedal cos it has so many already. So should i get this expensive amp and not bother getting an effects pedal? My mate has an average amp and an awesome effects pedal? is that wot i should do? spend more money on the pedal? the trouble is im kinda a beginner so without pre set effects i'll have to mess around with all the dials tryin to get different sounds for the songs i play,

Later Axl,

PS i know its a long question but please help!!

Getting a good effects processor and playing it through a 10 watt amp would be like trying to polish a polish a p.o.s. Definately get a new amp before you start diving into effects.

I've checked out those Marshall AVT's and they are way cool.
Then worry about the pedals later as your playing will develop alot faster when you're playing through a more superior amp.

You say i should worry about pedals later, when im better u mean? How good should i be before i look at pedals. Because although ive only been playin for 5 months i consider myself to a pretty damn good player!! I can play all of slashs famous solos, november rain, estranged, dont cry, coma etc. The trouble comes with playing cords with the gain up high, the quality is poor. Also trying to get variety in the sounds department, slash always has his guitar sounding pretty much the same, so it makes his solos sound similar. Basically the way my amp is set up no matter wot i play it all sounds similar, i need loadsa variety.

Later Axl

.....by "Effects Pedal"? Did you mean the Footswitch for the AVT 100? Or did you just mean other pedals (Boss, Dano, Etc.)?
Let me know! :)

not the footswitch, i mean a real effects pedal with loadsa pre set sounds,

Later Axl