Totally agree. In fact, I'm coming to the conclusion that for DB players, the question isn't really, "Does this amplification chain sound good?", but rather, "does this amplification chain sound good when blended with the natural acoustic sound of my bass?" Because in the end, who ever plays in any live situation where only the amp signal is heard? A case could be made for large and/or outdoor venues with FOH, but beyond that, it's all really about how the blended sound comes across.
My amp level for bowed string bass in concert band was significantly louder than the acoustic sound of my string bass. I would say the bass was still part of the sound, but not the majority of it. In big band, the acoustic sound of my bass was inconsequential. It was 99.99999% amp and PA. For context, the last bass I played was a 7/8 Lakeburg Baer and it was an absolute cannon of a bass, but in a concert band you could barely hear it.
I rarely used string bass in jazz combo as the group traveled together, needed to be in and out really fast, and I didn't want to deal with the extra bulk. I did sometimes us an NS Design electric upright.
Being as I played with an amp all the time I embraced it. Solo practice was acoustic, but all work with large ensembles involved an amp.
When I listen to videos of great bass players demonstrating pizz, I am often stunned by how bright and percussive their notes are. I believe this is due to the level of force they are using to try and get plenty of acoustic volume.
I don't embrace this philosophy. I think a purely acoustic string bass is practically useless in most jazz ensembles. If I am going to use the amp, I will let the amp do the work instead of tearing my hands up. I don't like such a bright, obnoxious attack anyway. Instead I will use what I consider the optimum amount of pull on the string to produce the attack and tone I prefer, instead of worrying about how loud acoustically I can get my bass.
Something to consider, when you have two sound sources that are in different locations, your going to get cancellation and phasing that degrades the quality of the sound. Another word for this phasing is comb filtering. The two sound sources of course are your amp and bass. There is no way to integrate the sound fronts to eliminate the problem unless you put the amp in front of the bass and delay the sound back. Then, this only corrects the problem on the axis between the bass and speaker. Off axis the problem still exists.
The phasing problem is most prominent when the two signals come together at equal strength, so one way to minimize the phase problem is for one of the sound sources to be dominant. Basically this means you should use your bass acoustically without an amp as long as it will carry the room. Then when you need the amp, it should be significantly louder than the bass. This assumes you have a quality setup that can approximate "my bass only louder."
Something to keep in mind is the relative size of the wavelengths we are talking about. Since low frequencies how really long wavelengths, providing your speaker is relatively close you won't have phasing problems in the low end. But you will get unevenness in your tone across the low mids if the bass and amp are at about the same volume. See attached "frequency wavelength chart."
My observation is people will turn up the amp just a little to fill out the low end, but it doesn't really sound like the bass IMHO. If I need to keep the volume relatively low but my bass is not enough, my personal approach is to play a little bit softer so I can turn the amp up a bit. For context, I use a setup that allows me to play pretty loud without incurring feedback problems. If your setup does not allow for this, you have to keep the volume of the amp low.
Okay so I am sure some of you have written me off as a complete heretic by now. At least consider the theoretical underpinnings of my approach, give it try, and ask someone you trust which sounds better. I have had people try it, sound way better, and then revert back to the old way because it seemed too foreign to them.
A lot of the greats are really committed to the idea of carrying the room with as much acoustic volume as possible, so as as always YMMV.
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