Jazz Guitar is split into two seperate groups; The thick (Newer Age, Fusion) and the Thin (Django Reinhardt, acoustic gypsy Jazz). Tube Amps work well for those who like a beefy sound on their jazz guitar, and Solid State Amps work well with people who don't want colorization from their amp. You have considerably more control on a solid state amp then a tube amp as far as tonality goes especially those that crank up easy (like my Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb). Personally, "That-Jazz Sound" is very cliche on the guitar, so much that it ceases to be original, and so I look for the thinner, Django-Sound.
Distortion is great for people who need to hide their inhibitions, their weak points on the guitar, because it effectively takes a portion of your nuanced-playing out of the equation, smoothing the edges, if you will (It's also a poor substitute for intensity) Now you have to ask yourself- "Do I want to play with distortion?", and if the answer is yes, then chances are you will like running a Tube Screamer-> Tube Amp. I would recommend the Ibanez TS-9 and the Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb, if that's your kind of thing. More up on the price chart is the Mesa Boogie Mark IV, but unless you have $1500 to spend on an amp, that's out of the question. The Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb (same amp I have) is a very good tube amp; the first time i played it, I spent four hours messing with the reverb alone. Just a killer sound, well worth the $800.
As PonyOne said, the Roland JC-120 is a killer amp too, for about the same price as the '65 Deluxe Reverb. Hope that helped.
~Incidents
