How responsible were these guitars for the thin tinny tone we witnessed in 94-95?
Certainly the 'speakerless' stage system played a role, but it think the guitar played a large role.
I just did a little research and listened to two Sugaree's from 1995 courtesy of archive.org. July 8th, he played Rosebud then Tiger. I compared that opening with the March 27, 1995 (not certain but safe to assume it is Lightening Bolt) Sugaree and there is a noticeable difference; mostly in the mid and upper range, the tone is so much warmer on the Irwin rigs.