Avoid all big names like the plague. You will pay far too much for mediocre guitars. Probably the best value for money at the moment (great guitars, reasonable prices) are Gordon SMiths, which come with a range of pickups and splittable humbuckers, and I think a choice of set and bol-on necks, sound and play really well and look a bit sort of gibson-ish. It's an English make. Mid GBP 400-ish prices.

If money is no object try Kingfisher guitars in Denmark Street London set necks and 4 over 2 tuners, will make what you want, play like greased lightning (even make it sound as if I can play)starting second hand a bit over GBP1000 (one thousand).

For an amp with a nice range of valve tones without the price of an AC30, try the Laney 30 - about GBP300 (half an AC30) and pretty much a clone of the AC30 output stage although I'm not sure if it uses EL34s or EL84s. For a pedal try the POD6.

Mics the best value for money bar none is the AKG D880 coming in at about GBP30 if you shop around and warmer and thicker than an SM58. If you want bland, stick to the SM58, and if you buy it discounted in the USA the prices start to look almost reasonable for what you get.