You say you like the Les Paul tone, I would go with a Les Paul. I know exactly what you mean about "twang" not being suitable for some types of music. And this is what I also like about LPs, not twangy. Not saying I don't like twang, I do, but sometimes I don't want twang.
I would also look at some semi-hollow guitars like the Epiphone Dot.
Nice thing about these guitars is they sound great clean or distorted. Clean you can get beautiful acoustic guitar type tones. Distorted they have a rich deep tone like an LP. Very versatile guitars with great tone.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I just got an Epi Dot not long ago. Very versatile!!You can do it all on this guitar-country,blues, pop, jazz, hard rock, even....dare I say it?..shredding :twisted: If I could only have one guitar thats the one I would keep. --ken