I have a feeling its just my gear, and a lot may have to do with the mixing songs go through when recorded, but I'm not sure. When I play with my distortion on, it obviously doesn't sound clear, but I notice that when bands play with distortion, it doesn't sound nearly the same. Their sound is actually clear, with very slight distortion. For example; Megadeth uses distortion, even in solos you can hear every note. When I play it, the distortion drowns everything out and you basically hear a lot of distortion with music in the background. Another band is Children of Bodom. They obviousely use distortion, but Alexi's sound is always clear.

I don't know if I explained that clearly, so if you have no idea what I mean, let me know.