I saw some no brand Chinese toasters. Those were cheap. Don't know how they sound.
I have a couple of modern German Höfners, with three types of pickups: staples, cavern and toaster:
Staples and Caverns are the same with a different housing. The are a bit overwound, compared to older ones so a bit too oomphy to my taste. If I'm correct the ones in the relic Höfners are less hot and they will use or are using them in the normal Germans now too. More vintage correct.
My favourite of my three staple/cavern Höfners is the Club with the close pickup spacing. The 'middle' pickup can be used as a thumb rest and it ads a bit more mid to the bass. Both pickups is very very wide warm and open and the middle one soloed gives a push in the sound and it's usabe for more rocky songs. I play fingerstyle mostly and sometimes those humbuckers can be 'too much'. They do sound great played with a pick.
But then i got a 500/1 with the single coil toasters. I bought it for the looks, haha. I plugged it in, in my little home amp and.. nothing. I thought the bass was broken, but the output is a lot lower than the other Höfners so I just had to turn up the volume. I did it and wow! It is my favourite sounding Höfner, especially for fingerstyle playing. It's not big and oomphy, but warm and woody. So nice! And the middle pickup is even more aggressive so really usable. By far my best sounding bass. A guy borrowed some basses and wanted this one for recordings, I recorded with it, the other half of my duo only wants me to use this bass.
But it became even better: I got a set of Pyramid black nylon tapewounds. I didn't want to put them on my bass, because I dislike black strings. And I don't like the sticky feelings of the Rotosounds. But in the end I tried and those pyramids sound and feel so good! It made the bass even warmer, better, a bit more sustain. Still very warm and clean and nothing of the edge roundwounds always have. So it was like plugging in a better amp.
This year Höfner made me a one of Club Bass, officially called 500/2 Chris Dekker haha. Of course with close places staples. I asked for the tapewounds and they forgot. No problem. I got the bass with normal Pyramid flats and I loved it. I played it for a while, but for a recording I decided to put on some nylons... .. and wow again! That tone! The studio engineer was a Höfner hater and he told me this was the best bass sound he recorded. Not the best bass player though