I had a similar problem recently and was given some advice which seemed to help. Like you, I get on fine with Simpsons but find these soft tipped ultra high density knots to be a pain in the arse.
My suggestion:
Shake 99% of water out of the brush, it can be slightly damp but not wet.
Load it like you hate the soap, 60 seconds loading is what I do.
Slowly add small amounts of water to build the lather.
Doing it this way I got a really good lather for my first pass and an average one for the rest. Prior to this (using it like a Simpson, or any other bager) I couldn't get any sort of usable lather at all.