I'm working on that, too. First -- folded fleece blanket? Everyone swears that 2 layers doesn't work like 1 layer. I fold my bigger fleeces either under the pads (harder to do with towels than with sewn-together pads) or over the sides (binder clips help). Folding fleece under sometimes makes it hard for the pads to absorb the liquid when my girls do their business in a corner (more about that later).
My belief is that other beddings have their own scent -- wood chips smell like wood (obviously), and some people think Carefresh smells like cardboard. So the beauty of fleece is that you smell nothing else -- but then there's nothing to cover the smell. When I use aspen in a litter box, I smell the piggies less, but I smell the wood more -- not really an improvement for me.
I've been struggling with fleece smell, and others say that when it's "too clean," their cavies stink it up ASAP (especially with boys). They suggest putting something "smelly" back in (cuddle cup, pad, etc.). My forest stays "smelly," so I'm not sure if that's happening with me.
If you really want to make the fleece work, pay close attention to how Max is using it. I actually found that my girls (I blame Gloria, but I usually do -- she's the "big mama" of the cage) had a poo pile that they were keeping "fresh" by peeing on it. I had my fleece forest in the hard-to-reach corner of the cage, so although I thought I was sweeping all the poos from it daily, they were hiding them from me. I stuck a wooden (i.e., hard for them to move) hidey house in that corner (so they can't really get at that corner to do their business) and moved the fleece forest to a more accessible corner. They're trying to defy me by just moving their business to another corner. I'm going to make more pads and maybe even add "corners" to the pads to catch the liquid, because right now some of it isn't being absorbed by the Uhaul pads. Worse case scenario, I'll pick up more wooden hidey houses to protect my corners!
I've only done fleece (sometimes with a litter), so I don't really know what the smell is like in a regular cage. I plan to stick it out with fleece, but I might start changing it every day or two.