You might try Fernandez (about the limit of your budget) or the new Cort model (which runs ~5-7 hundred US). It's called the Katana and you can find it on ebay. The katana there is to the best of my knowledge the first one of it sold, or at the very least the first online. It's comparable to something by schecter and I've heard its pickups compared to S.D. invaders.

Schecter makes some very nice equipment, I have a personal love for their sound. Or Ibanez, but that company requires a bit of personal taste to buy into. Marilyn Manson's guitarist (John Lowery) endorses their AX120, which is just a few hundred $$. He owns 4 of them.

You might look into Ran guitars, they're a custom shop in Poland. You can get a decent guitar from them for about your budget.

And there's always ESP, but they can be a bit expensive. You might be able to get something better for your money elsewhere, but that's not to say they might not have what you're looking for.

I'm thinking no floyd rose. I don't like what whammy bars do to guitars.

Main thing is look around at everything you can because there's a sh!tload of options out there.