Brand New Vinyl Static and Pops

It sounds like this is a combination of two things- a cartridge problem and perhaps also setup.

The cartridge could have been dropped and the magnet knocked out of alignment. This can cause all kinds of weird stuff while the cartridge looks fine. Since the muffled quality is in both channels this is a possibility.

I'm not sure how setup would cause the cartridge to sound muffled, but certainly it can cause mistracking, which manifests as ticks and pops in loud passages as the cartridge loses contact.

Am I missing something? It looks like the OP is not actually cleaning records, and is not subsequently cleaning a very dirty stylus. 

Check out the current zerostat discussion. It is like a gun. One depresses then releases a trigger slowly and it dispells static charge. Basically lasts forever. I think it’s good to keep the humidity in your house above 40%.

Since the problem started when you changed the cartridge, I doubt that it’s about a static charge since that has not changed. I think it’s more likely caused by the way the new cartridge was installed. Less likely but still possible is that there’s something wrong with the new cartridge. Another possibility is that you’re listening more carefully to the music since you added a new cartridge. Pops and clicks that were always there now bother you. Also, some cartridges reveal pops and clicks more readily than others. I would definitely reinstall the ortofon red and see what’s what. Good luck!

Get the Zerostat gun. About 100 bucks. 

I’m going to second dogberry’s 1st post.  
Lots of stuff to consider here.  
Unfortunately, lots of brand new vinyl has a dismayingly many tick-and-pop.  
Cleaning vinyl is very important.  
I don’t wish to make it all seem so tedious, but another thing to consider is that improperly cleaning a vinyl record will make it sound muffled.  
If a lesser solution is used and/or not allowed enough time to properly suspend the gunk in the grooves and then “applied” manually with some type of cloth, that process just mashes the gunk into the grooves even deeper.  
The best way is a vacuum cleaning machine with good cleaning fluid (I recommend Audio Intelligent solutions). Unfortunately this can be necessary (if not always necessary depending on how diligent one wants to be) with brand new vinyl.  
Apologies if you already knew this and were already cleaning vinyl with good solution and a good vacuum cleaning machine.
Ortofon Blue is a good cartridge. You’re on the right track by reinstalling the Red to see if such problems persist there as well.  
Undertaking the imperative processes of cartridge/tonearm/turntable alignment - VTF (that’s real easy), overhang, azimuth, SRA (aka VTA - one adjusts the height of the tonearm base to optimize the angle at which the stylus contacts the vinyl in the vertical plane) and anti-skate, as well as making sure the turntable platter is perfectly level on 3 different “points of an invisible triangle” on the platter with a bubble level and making sure the turntable rack is as protected from undesirable resonances as possible (a rack mounted to wall studs is ideal) - is, again, imperative when assessing the fidelity of a vinyl setup in every case.  
Also, trying a good standalone phono stage/preamp in lieu of what you referred to as “an old Denon receiver” (assuming you are using the phono input on said receiver) is a good idea.