The change was around 1995. The original UL had 2 pi tubes. Around '95 they changed to 1 pi tube for a year. The next year they went back to 2 pi tubes, and the design stayed the same until now.
Oh, it's great there for lead playing. Very balanced for high gain. Not too bright or too dark. I had one in my PRS for awhile, eventually went for a 36th because I wanted something more vintage. It was great for modern leads though, wouldn't hesitate to use it again.
Ya, I was thinking of the Santana, my bad. Anyhoo, I have a 2004 Custom 22, and have always been on the fence with it. It's nice, but it has issues. The pickups were terrible. The treble bleed circuit was not good. The control cavity has no shielding, and the factory soldering was rather...
Custom 24 has Gibson scale, DGT is 25". If you're a Gibson guy get the 24. If you're into super strats get the DGT. The DGT fixes everything I don't like about the Custom 22 (bigger frets, flatter fretboard, better pickups).
Hammerjacks closed before I made it down, but saw Kix in Frostburg. Also saw Steve's other band a lot around Keyser after Kix broke up the first time. Steve's guitarist was a local guy (Dean Kramer), I believe he plays for Sebastian Bach now.
My guess is replacing John Shanks in Bon Jovi this fall. The Bon Jovi camp was in talks with Ritchie Sambora, but that guy was out to lunch last time I saw him in a video.