Re: aps 1 vintage staggered or texas hots?
jarvis,
yes, they are similar, since both are A2 pickups
the APS is a great neck pickup with a warm tone
you will notice a subtle difference with the Texas Hots -- the scatter winding gives them a bit smoother tone without any frequency peaks
also, if you get a set with the Custom bridge, they are very well balanced -- although the spec on the bridge is 9K+, it seems just right
to me, they are like a real good set of vintage strat pickups, but better because the bridge pickup is very usable, especially if you have the bridge wired for tone so you can roll off the highs a little
the aged A2 pickups have less string pull, so more sustain and picking dynamics (true for both APS and THs)
the APSs are a great vintage style pickup, no doubt -- even better with a hotter bridge pickup, like a Twangbanger or SSL-3, if you don't mind foregoing vintage quack in the B/M position
the Texas Hots are a great "ultimate" strat set -- for that strat you love and play all the time, and feel it deserves the best possible tone
here are a couple of clips -- not straight up comparisons, but maybe it will help anyway:
Antiquities
APS-2s with SSL-3 bridge
Shalom