So I'm working on a group university project involving using a raspberry pi as a guitar effects processor. My group and I have discussed a few ideas about what kind of effects we could reasonably program on the pi and implement within a 1 month time period and a $100 budget. I think it would be kinda awesome to include tube distortion not only for the presentation value but also as a learning tool. The problem is I know nothing about wiring up vacuum tubes and the data sheets I've seen so far aren't intuitive to someone like myself that has only seen IC's in school. So my first question is, given this tube, (because it's the cheapest I could find.)
https://tubedepot.com/products/jj-el844-power-vacuum-tube?gclid=Cj0KEQjwqZKxBRDBkNmLt9DejNgBEiQAq8XWPkxqcQ-lTjbQefNC52-4fla1nzK82acd59g27DokDFMaArij8P8HAQ
would it be possible to implement a distortion effect without going over budget on the supporting hardware?
Second, does anyone have any knowledge they'd like to share about how to wire this thing up?

I'm not trying to get someone else to do my homework for me. I'm in a little over my head here and hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
I'll gladly share the results in mid December if we're able to see this through.