Interestingly bass forums were better than guitar forums around this. Still mostly gear chat, and lots of discussion about cabs (fearful bass cabs are cool, it's true), but since many venues bass would go preamp->front of house, and you wouldn't really have much control, seems like people were more likely to just deal with not having "perfect" tone. If anything, power was the biggest vice. "Oh we play outdoors once a year, I need 2000 Watts to feel it properly on stage."