New mat for Rega P6?

I have a Herbie's Way Excellent II but Herbie's makes a different mat more suitable for acrylic platters called the Grungebuster. I believe the Rega has an acrylic platter, so the Grungebuster might improve sonics but I doubt you would notice any difference with the Way Excellent from just putting the record directly on the platter. Synergistic Research recently came out with a mat (and weight) but like all of there products, it's expensive.

I use a Herbie’s Way Excellent mat on my P10’s ceramic platter. I know the P6 has a different platter so your results may be different. I actually bought the Grungebuster and the Way Excellent mat to compare them knowing that I could return one or both. I liked the Way Excellent for sound quality much better than the stock and Grungebuster mats. The Grungebuster mat sounded flat and dead. Even though the P6 has a different platter from my P10, I recommend trying the Way Excellent mat and return it if doesn’t work out. Other mats that I’ve tried incude the Audio Technica Japanese paper mat, and a white leather mat.

@smatsui I tried using the Way Excellent II on a Clear Audio with an acrylic platter. There was no difference between the mat and the platter. However, different tables could render different results.

After you have examined all the various mat choices, take a look at the upgrades from Groovetracer. A friend has done the reference sub-platter upgrade and just recently got the Delrin platter for a current P3. The sub-platter, the Herbie's mat, better belt, better support stand all were incremental changes. The Delrin platter is a complete game changer (no mat is used with the Delrin platter). The tonal balance was shifted from a very upper midrange forward presentation to a more balanced sound with a massive increase in detail. You will perceive much more information than you thought could exist on late 50's and 1960's jazz recordings. It's amazing what they were able to capture on those tapes with the technology of the era. That same friend points out that the way microphones were made back then may be reason. They had huge diaphragms compared to todays products.

We sort of got off topic because the actual issue was static, which the OP presumed came from the felt mat. Maybe so, but a Herbies mat or Delrin platter may not cure that issue. That’s why I recommended Gruv Glide if the static was that bad. Anyway…