I have come to the conclusion over 20 years now that at least 50% of your tone is in your hands or your overall guitar technique. Listen to Eddie Van Halen, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai etc., you know it's them as soon as you hear the first note. Beginners believe you need the best guitar and amp to get that awesome tone their guitar hero's get. Wrong, I've seen a guitarist once pick up a plastic guitar from a child in the crowd and make it sound great. I have broken it down to this.

1. Intonation of your chords and riffs.

2. Is your guitar in tune

3. Where you play your notes. Your finger tips etc.

4. Muting of the strings and more.

Having good intonation is a must for a good sound plus it keeps the dogs from howling. There is nothing worst then hearing a jazz chord or a string bend that's flat or sharp. Kinda like hearing a singer hit a high note that's totally flat. OUch.

I would work this into your practice schedule as much as possible. Try hooking up to your guitar tuner and practice bends and see how close you really are. Now before you even start playing make sure your in tune. You could be playing the best guitar solo of your life, but if your out of tune hey it just went into flames.

Where you play your notes is important also. Practice playing the same note from different places with your fingers as see if you can hear a difference. Eric Johnson is big on this and you can tell from his monster tone. Another important thing is proper muting of your strings. You don't want your awesome lick with the wrong note/string ringing behind it.

This is known as palm muting where you mute the string with the side of your right hand or left if your a lefty. I would also recommend practicing this as much a possible. By improving some of these techniques your tone is one it's way for the better. Save your money from always buying the best and work on what's really behind it all your skills.