Hi Marc,
Excellent advice from Pat. There's never been a better time to buy a low end guitar. I'm constantly amazed at the quality in the 3 to 5 hundred range. But they're not all created equal and it's best to audition them if you can.

I tend to like the sound of the thicker body with a sound hole, but they will feed back faster if you're gigging with it. The thin lines can sound very good thru a moma bear, fisher, or zoom a2.1u system, and you can get to a much higher volume if that's important. I have the zoom a2.1u and recommend it if you're looking for a good pre.

I recommend taking a look at the Epiphone sst as mentioned above, or the Epi pr5 (also available in black). The shadow system on these is excellent imo. It's not a pizzo, and it does colour the sound slightly. Of course, sound is subjective and you need to decide for your self which you like better.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emVzUaF77RY&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh1A587RTCk