for me, the regularly placed steves special is brighter, thinner, not that its not good, i just love the reverse, it is perfect for leads and is less trebly but fatter. its not in any way muddy, i love it.
paf joe... love the sound. so smooth for lead playing. for more aggressive leads i use bridge and for smooth satch leads, ofcourse, paf joe..
for clean settings, i just use both pickups.. well, generally, whatever pickups im using, i dont use the bridge pickup. i use neck for warmer and fatter tone, or combination of bridge and neck. quacky sound which i love.