If you decide to dive in, you have the pennies, and can find one, may I suggest you try out the
Barber Tone Press? I'm trying not to suggest anything too, hmmm, "booteeeqwa", but this is a unique and very nice sounding unit in the world of compressors. Compressors work by setting a threshold and controlling the volume of everything that goes above that threshold. The more it exceeds the threshold, the more it is affected. What is the loudest part of a guitar signal? The attack. As a result, it is effected the most with a typical guitar ccompressor, and ends up sounding pretty funky sometimes.
The Tone Press deals with this by allowing you to blend the compressed signal with the clean signal. By doing this, you can have a relatively unaffected attack plus the benefits of the compressor. I tried one and liked how it sounded very much. It's built heavily and uses good components. You can look
HERE for more details. Most people carry it for $139.99 or you can order it from the maker online. I'm dropping hints for my birthday.
Bob