SD Quarter Pounders vs Apollo for Jazz bass comparison?

Well, I can say that the Apollos were designed to get a traditional Jazz sound with side-by-side hum-cancelling coils, and to my ears, these are the best traditional humbuckers for Jazz that we've produced. The Quarter Pounds are not traditional sounding at all to my ears, with a lot more mids and output. Great for heavier styles, or if you like some grit in your playing.

 

It really depends on how much you like traditional J bass tone, because that is what the Apollo Jazz sounds like to me. It doesn't have the output of the QP, so if you are used to that, you'd have to boost the signal elsewhere. The Apollo Jazz set is a lot more balanced EQ-wise than the QP, but about 70% of the output.

 

Hey Zoobiedood... resurrecting an old thread. I am really interested (from sound clips I have heard) in the Apollos. However, I really like the potential to get a little "nasty" with my tone and was wondering... if I have the QPs installed on my Fender (MIM) Jazz bass, would rolling back the tone knob on my bass yield a more "vintage" tone? Thanks for any input/direction with this.

 

Well, the sound of a vintage bass isn't just less output. There is a big EQ change between vintage-type pickups and QPs. Turning the volume down can approach the output power of vintage pickups, but the EQ between Apollos, which are voiced like vintage Jazz pickups, and QPs are really different.

 

I see. It seems the Apollos have more mid range punch and clarity (high end response) then the QPs, while the QPs appear to produce a more "aggressive" and low-mid voice character. Is this an accurate description on my behalf? Thank you for your response to my initial query.