What's it like recorded @strummer? I've used my Classic Ray to record but only the Smoothie live. These basses really thump with the mutes on - one of my major bass influences is Larry Taylor with Canned Heat and John Mayall - he played a Precision but struck the strings extremely hard so the bass thumped - my Classic Ray recorded, especially with the mutes on does that thump very well but the tone is gorgeous as well - and of course you can get that fat Musicman pop on the strings if you want to (Bernard Edwards) - so a bass with many facets - I must say live my Smoothie is similar but as it says, slightly smoother. Gorgeous bass.
As you say, drT, it is aptly named as Old Smootie A bit smoother, but also fuller, than your average SR (Haven't had any experience with the Specials yet).
I run it with bass at maybe 70%, treble around 30-40%, and most often straight to "tape" via only a Cali76-tx. Without changing settings i get good pick attack, a nice fat finger sound and also the muted thump (although I don' t move the dampers, just ram some foam unter the strings).