Hello! I can't make up my mind, am hoping you guys can share some input to help me decide. I have a low end acoustic guitar (Fender Squier). Its overall sound is nice enough, but I guess it can be better. I was originally planning on buying an electric acoustic Ibanez (AEG series maybe, budget $300-500 incl amp), a little upgrade from what I have now, for relatively better quality and maybe I can home record, but lately, I've been thinking of getting a Fender Squier Strat or Epi Les Paul (or any entry level you may recommend?) and maybe a Vox 15R amp (a recommendation I read somewhere) instead. I've always wanted to try an electric to learn this kind of playing and sound (plus it's not so hard on the fingers, hehe).

Which do you think I should go for?

1. Go for the electric because the Ibanez that'll fit my budget won't be much of an improvement from my Squier and learn with an entry level electric before thinking of a more expensive one.

2. Or should I just go for the Ibanez and just save up for a better electric guitar/setup? I read somewhere getting a crappy electric can be quite frustrating in the long run...

3. OR neither choice is appealing/smart buy and just save more for either?

Btw, I'm not a pro, not even a semi-pro... I'm nicely chugging along, but I know enough to realize there's something better than my Squier, soundwise. Ideally, I would get the electric acoustic then buy a 2nd hand electric cheap, but I'm not technically knowledgeable on guitar electronics to gamble on a 2nd hand... so I can't get both and that's not an option. I do want the acoustic electric to be something that I'll be keeping for a looong time, is a $400 already a keeper?

What do you think? Thanks!