Of the under $500 semi hollow I have ever played, this was the best one, with the best stock pickups. Try to get this tone under $1000 new and it will be if not impossible - really hard! I've owned a lot of guitars too!
I have that same model...same color. Is this a '96 by chance? Just posted some improv over a bluesy jazzy thing on my channel. I think these have awesome tone for the money.
Man ....if you get upset about that, you would really hate to know what kind of amp I was using to demo with. You'd probably throw up on your own feet.