A few years ago I figured out what seems to be the quickest shortcut to getting an expressive electric guitar tone without the use of guitar pedals or effects.

Playing finger style - no guitar picks. I don’t know of any other single thing that can as dramatically improve tone on a melodic part - finger style playing allows drama and emotion to sweep through guitar playing, since two human hands make the sounds, and not just one.

The downside - I picked up a pick the other day, and I can barely do anything with it. So if you start to play with fingers, you have to keep practicing with picks from time to time.

When I started playing guitar some 20-30 years ago I never used picks because I just happen to lose one each time so it was only fingers for me. Unfortunately guitars were doing me some wrist and finger problems so I just decided to stick with keys. Tried playing one recently but it was meh. And the pain was enormous.