Sorry to disagree but THAT SOUND to we players has always meant the Apache to Wonderful Land era including the first EP and album. It's a magical tone that turned heads at the time. We mistakenly believed that it was all down to the Meazzi echo box, but there was more to it than just that. The Meazzi did have a unique sound and since I got my hands on one I can hear it in the preamp, but there's something more.
After those initial recordings the sound became less distinctive and more easily achievable, smoothing out somewhat.
We argued for years on these pages what exactly the ingredients were that contributed to that 'magical' tone and although certain pieces of equipment such as the Meazzi, Vox AC15 & AC30 were credited, it turns out that the Abbey Road studio was the main ingredient in what we (or I) had been focusing on. That sound is there on 'Move It' and we all know that The Shadows didn't play on that recording.
My conclusion is that it was Malcolm Addey's use of his choice of tone on the ambient reverb as well as the humble HPF (high pass filter) were the key elements in us hearing Hank's guitar the way we did. Later, when the lead guitar sound changed and seemed 'drier', the compression was more noticeable (eg Atlantis - Shindig) and the albums began to have a slightly different texture in tone.
Today, using all the 'wrong' equipment, it is possible to get very close by applying the HPF to the guitar track, regardless of whatever echo box or amp is used, with either a Fender / Squier / Vintage or any decent Strat copy or Burns Marvin / Marquee or anything close. This is what I have picked up fro years of recording and benefiting from advanced technology for which I am very grateful. So much so, that I discovered that G&L had incorporated their very useful tone control system into their S-500 & Legacy guitars that easily do what the HPF did to Hank's guitar in Abbey Road all those years ago. I copied the design and added the same circuitry to a few of my Strats and am able to get THAT SOUND by twisting one knob - happy days.
