Not familar with your deck, but both the mat material/construction and it's thickness (due to changing VTA) will alter the sound.
I do not consider myself to be a cheapskate (a potlicker yes, but never a cheapskate), and coming from this standpoint you still have a couple of DIY mats to experiement with.
Try one mat made from "wool" felt (fabric stores sell 12" squares for $1-$2). Also, try one made from cork (thin sheets are available @ Home and Art stores. If the cork is in a roll it will need to be pressed flat for a few weeks before you cut the mat from it.
Depending on the overall thickness you could also try combining the two materials (flip the mat over to see which side sounds best up).
In general (in regard to VTA) the thicker the mat the fuller the sound and the thinner the mat the lighter/brighter the sound. When the tail end of a cartridge is lowered it will produce more bass and when the tail end is raised this will accent the HF's. The trick is to achieve a proper balance between the two and I have rarely been completely satisfied with a cartridge that has been set to the manufacturer's VTA specs (a little trial and error adjustment always seems to help).
Never owned a TT without VTA adjustment, but I just leave mine as is and use a thinner felt mat for thicker LP's (takes a few seconds to swap mats).
I do not consider myself to be a cheapskate (a potlicker yes, but never a cheapskate), and coming from this standpoint you still have a couple of DIY mats to experiement with.
Try one mat made from "wool" felt (fabric stores sell 12" squares for $1-$2). Also, try one made from cork (thin sheets are available @ Home and Art stores. If the cork is in a roll it will need to be pressed flat for a few weeks before you cut the mat from it.
Depending on the overall thickness you could also try combining the two materials (flip the mat over to see which side sounds best up).
In general (in regard to VTA) the thicker the mat the fuller the sound and the thinner the mat the lighter/brighter the sound. When the tail end of a cartridge is lowered it will produce more bass and when the tail end is raised this will accent the HF's. The trick is to achieve a proper balance between the two and I have rarely been completely satisfied with a cartridge that has been set to the manufacturer's VTA specs (a little trial and error adjustment always seems to help).
Never owned a TT without VTA adjustment, but I just leave mine as is and use a thinner felt mat for thicker LP's (takes a few seconds to swap mats).