Caleb,
Most pen guys are collectors, not calligraphers, so they banter about the comparative merits of this or that pen with very little concern for the Business End - the nib.
Somebody who isn't just looking for excuses to use a cool pen, but who is on a mission to produce a certain kind of script, such as yourself, doesn't give a flying leap what pen he's holding so long as the ink is laying down in the way he wishes.
Forget about pens and worry about nibs.
Certain nibs and pens are interchangeable -- decide
first on your nib, and
then let that filter which pens you can stick it in.
The paper doesn't know whether the nib is attached to a $10 pen or a $1000 pen.
You really need to try a 1.5 mm "Stub."
The most versatile 1.5 stub is probably the JoWo #6. It is then branded for various pen retailers like a "house coffee" or "house pipe" -- it isn't actually made by them but it's branded for them.
JoWo #6 nibs come in Fine, Medium, 1.1 stub, 1.5 stub, etc. They are all interchangeable with many Montegrappa, Conklin, TWSBI, Edison, Opus 88, Kaweco, etc. pens.
Here is one example of the nib I'm talking about:
Our Anderson Pens own German-made #6 single-tone gold plated steel 1.5mm Stub fountain pen replacement nib by JoWo can be used with any pen that has a #6 sized nib, including, but not limited to many Monteverde, Conklin, and Franklin-Christoph, Edison and modern Esterbrook pens, as well as most...
andersonpens.com
This is just the JoWo #6 1.5 stub, in this case branded for Anderson. It's $15.
You could buy one affordable pen, and buy JoWo #6 nibs in four different widths, and functionally have four different pens. (Changing nibs takes mere seconds...although cleaning the ink off your fingers and desk takes much longer!)
Feel free to explore any of the pen brands I listed above -- this nib will work on them -- but I'll recommend the most bang-for-buck pen that you can stick the JoWo nib on:
I have more expensive pens, but guess what --
I have 3 of these, all with different sized JoWo #6 nibs, and they look and feel as nice as any pen I own.