Indecision between two axes

If you're studying jazz and also aspire to session work the typical choice would be a thin line hollow body. Good alternatives to a 3500usd gibson 335 would be an Eastman, d'angelico, 70s lawsuit tokai or greco, a yamaha etc etc

Strats are indeed superb mod platforms. Ibanez prestige models are really a cut above other ibanez guitars but you have to be into skinny, flat necks as they all have what they used to call the "s profile" IIRC... or the Wizard orsomething? I'm not into that so I wpuld probably buy the nicest used strat i could afford and mod it. For jazz you might find a telecaster to be better. The neck pickup is smoother than a strat neck pickup... you could also consider a 70s style tele custom or deluxe to get a wide range humbucker or two. The new ones are just normal paf type humbuggies in disguise but they sound cool and you have the option to mod it with a set of creamery wide ranges for authenticity uf you want that... the real design is a cool pickup. Most session opportunities are in Nashville. LA is a pretty closed shop and a tele looks the part for country, though its looser than it once was down there. For session work you will want to invest in a very high quality tube amplifier, less for the great sound than for the street cred. You have to market yourself and irs more than just chops to break in.

But if you're playing in a big band, the band director always wants to see a hollow body of some sort... it's less about the sound than the appearance. It always seemed dumb but there it is. Maybe things have changed since my jazz days though. I dunno.

When you choose an AMP , you choose your Basic Tone and Sound Shape, its the main reason for a choice , only when you are sure a modeler can provide that , you go for it, or you wanna go for a modeler as a 2nd soltution and later buy an AMP for Gigs and Live Music, or you are still not sure about the Sound and Tone you are really looking for. A modeler is often the choice , because of a lot of sounds you can produce and because of functionality for recording , different hard Gig enviorments and so on

.... when you got a modeler , it is also important where the sound is coming from in the end (Speakers) , makes a big different in the Sound Quality and Tone Shape. A Speaker does move the Air and sound very different no matter what you plug into it, it can be .... more dark, more bright, boxy, open, dull, distorted , gridy , texturing, full and rich , low and tight, warm or cold , cheap , HiFi , LowFi .....

I would only choose a modeler , when I know it can live up to the basic Sound I am looking for, in respect there are so many Basics Sounds I do switch all the time and which I can not achive by Pedals ... , so to say I do not want to have the most fitting basic sound and choose a good modeler does a lot of basic sounds.

Modeler can sound a bit lifeless or steril for Gigs, but exactly lifeless or steri can be the Sound I am looking for , sometimes a modeler does sound very close to a Tube Amp and the sound I am chasing then I do not care.
Modeler are very often used for recording and replace a tube Amp for recording because the Sound you have will be by your "HiFi" when listening to the song and not by the Amp anymore. So a Modeler is also a good choice when you do mostly no Live Gigs and you are recording a lot, without a professional Studio got every Amp you are looking for, but this is mostly the 2nd solution and you still got an Amp for Live Music and Gigs, because most do have Gigs and are not just recording. Sometimes a modeler is also the choice for Live Gigs , this comes into play when you not Solo-ing a lot or mostly not at all and the quallity you got with Tube Amp more can not be notice anymore, because there is much going on at the same time in a Band, the little bit of a "better sound quality and shape" does not make a diffrence anymore.

For teaching Music it is very different, a modeler is great here, you do not need to Sound very great , because its just for practise , also you are very flexible and can cover a lot of sounds, you do not have to handle so much like you would have to do with a Tube Amp. For Teaching you do also not need to be loud , but you do need in Live Gigs and bars and on stage to be heard, so you do not care for loud but still good sounding AMPS when teaching. At Home a modeler is great by functionality , but also here I would still go for Sound and Tone in the 1st Place and not looking so much for Functionality.

And sometimes People do choose a modeler , because they would need to carry a heavy Amp all time and killing themselfs , instead of making music, but this can also be difficult , because no matter where you wanna play the Sound that will be played is by the equipment you got there on Spot, like I said: "... it is also important where the sound is coming from in the end (Speakers) , makes a big different in the Sound Quality and Tone Shape."

In the End you have to love how you sound is the most important , it does make you wanna play and also making music and experiment with shaping the Basic Sound of the Amp/Modeler you got, when a modeler can give you the sound you love over a TubeAmp , there is no reason why not going for a modeler.

I guess school music programs have changed a lot since my day :) the telecaster us hands down the most inherently tuning stable classic guitar model. And they sound good.

I've dealt with a katana before. It sounds best through the line out. Not good not bad. The thing a real tube amp has in spades that even an axfx is weak on is touch response. No one has faked that to my satisfaction yet and some tube amps are more responsive than others... and different designs respond to your right hand technique in different ways. It's the other half of your instrument as an electric guitarist and selecting an amp us like an acoustic player selecting a body size, shape and combination of woods

Yes the Katana comes in Package where you do not have the problem to search for good speakers, its is already optimized. But to say I would not say the Katana is a great sound , but it might be the taste of sound for some, I would prefer a lot of other amps way over the Katana, like the Roland Chorus or a Fender Amp Tube or Master Deluxe over a Katana .....

I can not give an advice for a good Speaker combination with modelers / FRFR Guitar Cabs , sorry. Also when seeing some enjoying it. I played some Speaker with the Strymon Iridium , but never used them in person for long and there might be someone else a much bigger help in the Forum, it was not what I like and never worked out for me. .....also a speaker is a personal thing too, for someone a speaker can sound very great for the next one its already too bright or too dark sounding or something else, is also with Amps the same, .... some just do not think about Sound or they can not really hear it and this comes with time and experice and other equipment. These days most people do not go and play something before they buy , .... So yes you should try out Stuff by 100% ,thats the right choice and way to go , to find what you will love and in the end not be disappointed. Sound is nothing can be explained and brought , you have to experience it and then buy it , to say something about a FRFR Guitar Cabs is only related to quality and how loud they can be , ... and maybe the direction of sounds its going to be like bright , dark .... but in the end will never say something about how they sound, ... even youtube videos you hear only over your own speaks , it gives only a direction of a sound , but you hear your pc speakers and not the amp or FRFR Guitar Cabs. You have to try these things out , when you got the time and possibilty , in respect you heard it already befor and you know , you will love it. But when you found a combination, you can look here for people got this gear and ask them under their gear about it, or read some User Tests about it, so you have a first good impression when going to test this and you loose not too much time in a music shop or testing it somewhere.

I would always go with an FRFR and engage the cabinet models for something like and axefx unless I was going to use a tube power amp. Why? If you drive guitar speakers with a solid state power amp they will be heavily damped. This is desirable behavior for sound reproduction and tube hifi amps often have more complicated circuitry in an attempt to keep up with the excellent speaker control (damping) of solid state.... guitar amps can't damp the speakers for sh!t, but its not reproducing sound, its converting electrical energy into mechanical energy, sound, so a really exagerated response to the signal is desirable to most of us, like a lively spruce topped acoustic... this is one of the things that make them "lively and touch responsive"... the modelled cabinets in something like axfx may get closer to the feel of the real thing and then a solid state power amp and full range cabinet (essentially a hifi speaker) can do what it does best; reproduce faithfully... anyway, just my electrical .02