Never throw away what you can sell.
But seriously, the fact that increasing tracking force helped is a clue. How did you adjust? The correct way is with a gauge (even the inexpensive Shure works fine) measured with the stylus at record height, not above or below.
Most will tell you to lower is better but the truth is mistracking is much worse than running a little extra VTF. And it sounds like that is your problem right now, mistracking.
Just curious if you still have the old Blue? If you do I would try it and see if the problem goes away or not.
But seriously, the fact that increasing tracking force helped is a clue. How did you adjust? The correct way is with a gauge (even the inexpensive Shure works fine) measured with the stylus at record height, not above or below.
Most will tell you to lower is better but the truth is mistracking is much worse than running a little extra VTF. And it sounds like that is your problem right now, mistracking.
Just curious if you still have the old Blue? If you do I would try it and see if the problem goes away or not.