I honestly don't know much about Epiphones or Ibanezeseses

but check out Yamahas as well. They make pretty solid instruments and provide good bang for the buck. My first guitar was a Yamaha dreadnought about 16 years ago and I still play it almost every day. It was $250 brand new. They have some nice acoustic/electric offerings as well.
Oh and I have a fretless Yamaha bass and it is solid as well. I also use the Yamaha DG-Stomp amp modeler. They make an acoustic version of that product as well.