[zombywoof]

Oddly I own both a 1953 blonde Epiphone Triumph Regent and a 1935 Gibson-made Capital archtop which was the house brand of Jenkins Music and is pretty much the same as a Kalamazoo or a Cromwell. There is absolutely no similarity between the two guitars. The Epi is a big box with carved top and back plates. The Capital is smaller with a pressed wood top and back. I doe snot have a truss rod but a nice fat V neck. Mine is also X braced (a Gibson characteristic from 1935 into 1939) rather than parallel braced so has the "two hump" top. The Epi has far more punch than the Capital and sounds fatter on the upper end almost more like a flattop.

You should have no problem scoring a Kalamazoo at your price point. The archtops bring far less than the flattops. In Epiphones, I would think you might be limited to a Blackstone which was a lower end entry in the catalog.

As far as other brands the top of the line Harmony would be the Cremona which had a carved top. The rarest would be the cutaway version which was only made for one year.

As far as Kays, the best I have ever gotten my hands on was one of the two Television models from the late 1930s. These had carved tops and backs. I prefer them over something like a Gibson L-50 which cost three times as much. Finding one at any price though is a hard row to hoe. I have only run across the one which was up for grabs and I am still kicking myself for not jumping on it when I had the chance. But Kay also made a ton of archtops for Sears and others, a number of which had at least carved tops. Problem is you really have to know your way around these guitars to know what you are getting which is not easy when it comes to Kays.

Just a question but have you considered the new Epiphone Masterbilt Century line of archtops. I have been pleasantly surprised by them and they will not even come close to emptying your wallet.