I'm not taking sides, because I'm not really interested, my ears haven't developed enough to make plausible decisions, and the debate is a distraction for me when buying or trying basses. I do have a few opinions, or generalizations that might or might not be expectation based, but I'm not interested enough to look at things in a scientific manner.
My experiences with blind and double blind tastings of wine and spirits taught me a lot- I've been working in, and then managing bars and restaurants for over twenty years, and used to be a big drinker. I'm a trained chef with about 12 years experience cooking in restaurants for about 8 months of each of those, and I'm what is known as a supertaster, having more taste buds per square centimeter on my tongue than the majority of people.
I can differentiate many vodka brands in a double blind test, and if I'm given the brands to allocate, can usually get most or all of them right. This is due to my experience over the years, and the attention I've spent on educating my palate. I consistently do better on these tests than my customers and employees, although often people recognize the brand they usually drink.
In a blind and blindfolded single grape varietal wine tasting I can often mistake a red for a white wine, although if I can see the wine I can often identify the grape variety and sometimes country of origin, and if it's a style I'm familiar with I can sometimes name a vintage or a producer.
These experiences have taught me to trust experience, but not all that much, and not to generalize these experiences.
So, although I believe a mahogany body lends a certain tonal character to a bass compared an alder one, I recognize that I might be persuaded by expectation to hear a difference. If an experienced luthier believes the same thing, I tend to believe it on principle, as he probably hears nuances I don't yet and probably never will hear.
In the end, if I can hear the difference, even if I am only imagining it, it might be enough for it to affect my decision, as in the end it's me who plays the thing. In truth, though, I just look at, listen to, and play basses until I find one I like and that fits my needs, the rest is a distraction for a non bass-building player, IMO.
One more thing, slightly OT: basses inexplicably sound so much better to me when I hear them played back to me on a recording, or even when a cack-handed beginner picks up one of my basses and plinks a few notes, a phenomenon I can't explain. Something about holding a bass and playing it has a profound adverse effect on the way it sounds to me in real time.
