elgman,
A Plug 'n Plate power supply will work just fine for brush plating your pieces.
A rectifier is recommended for doing any type of immersion plating or for fine tuning your application for different types of plating situations. This would be the most versatile route and present you with a more professional type of set-up.
This is a great starter kit and sounds a lot like what you may be looking for....
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/gldbrshsys.html
Best of luck,