In one of the first bands I was ever in (almost 20 years ago), I replaced the original bass player. He was a weird guy, that wasnt especially good, and had horrible technique: he would turn the tone all the way down, finger pick a half-inch in front of the bridge, hit the mid-scoop button on his Fender Rumble 100 (which I bought from him and still have), and turn the volume up until it distorted, and then he turned it down a hair. All other controls were at noon. His tone sucked. When I replaced him (and learned that 100 BASS watts are like 5 guitar watts), I pushed the mids and cranked it. It was like being in the room with John Entwistle, only without the exploding drums...
Anywho, this guy had Darth Vader knobs on his Ibanez bass, and he swore that that was where his tone came from...