I'd say put the money in the rod. Good rods are the Calstar 90J, 900L, or T100J. The T100J is the king in my opinion. A newell 332 is killer but to save bucks just get a jigmaster 500 and put the newell 5:1 gears in it.
T100's are really hard to come by but a custom one will run you around 200 bucks. The jigmaster is looking at 60 bucks I think? I got mine for 20 bucks at the Fred Hall show about 8 years ago.
You might even check out Graphtec if you can find them. I don't know if they make a big jigstick but their line of rods mirrors Calstar pretty closely for a lower price. Don't buy anything under 9 feet!