Stingray through a tone hammer

Hey everyone. I’m reaching out to see if anyone else is experiencing the same kind of “issue” I’m having. I got a used stingray special a couple months ago, the thing plays like a dream. But I’m having some issues with the sound/tone through my tone hammer. I don’t feel like I’m getting that classic stingray bite/growl out of it. I’ve watched countless YouTube videos and looked up other forums to see if anyone else plays a ray through a TH and got some help but I’m still not happy with the tone.

It sounds kind of dulled and muddied to my ears no matter how much I crank the treble and mess with the gain and drive knobs (they work together to shape the tone aside from the b/m/t knobs.

I’m leaning towards getting a new head, but wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me before I pull the trigger and take a hit on selling the tone hammer. I was going to try and get to a store and see if I can demo a GK legacy 500, darkglass microtubes 500, Ampeg pf500, and maybe a hartke head as well.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated. I just got back into playing during the pandemic and only ever had a hartke kickback up until now, so I’m not very well versed in the world of standalone heads. Thanks!