Re: guitar or amp?
angus young, slash, kirk hammet, EVH, Uli Jon Roth...
Not sure about the fifth (never heard of him/her to be honest) but I'm pretty sure the first four are all Marshall folks, definately Angus Young, Slash and EVH anyway.
and i dont want special EFX cuz i dont wanna use em just some good distortion
You're starting on the right track, definately the way to go, hehe.
well no giggin yet.. been asked to do some bands but havent said yes yet
I'd say get a gig worthy amp anyway, you'll only have to up-grade later which means more faffing around. Get a good amp and work with it, find your sound and all that.
I'd definately suggest you're part of the Marshall camp, without question. And you sound like you just want a simple out and out rock amp. Marshall vbasically invented rock amps. The price range that you mentioned is a little thin on the ground for quality Marshalls though.
If you're looking to buy it new then the Marshall ranges, in order of price (cheapest first) are:
MG
(beginner series, completely solid state. In my opinion they're quite good for the money but a lot of people here will tell you they're terrible)
AVT
(I think these have a pre-amp tube in them. this has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Not really sure what it does. However, these are good amps, not professional quality, but not professional prices either. Good for the classic Marshall sounds and much more reliable than tube amps)
JCM
(Marshall flagship range. You could pick any guitar band at random and chances are they've used a Marshall JCM on at least one recording. All tube, expensive though. I think these are a bit out of your price range)
Depending on how long you're prepared to save up for I'd recommend an AVT. Good solid all-round rock amps. I think some of them do have that EFX rubbish but you'll be hard pressed to find any more than a few decent solid-state amps that don't these days. You can just turn all that stuff off anyway, and one the brightside, this is a good way to learn a little bit about different effects.
If you're not in a band, and have no desperate need for an amp now, then I'd suggest hanging on to that peavey and saving up. Definately worth it when you reap the benefits of owning a truely 'kick-ass' amp. Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Benja