I still try to imagine the bass sound of Jaco RIP, Chris Squire, Geddy Lee or Mick Karn with flat settings...and telling to the sound engineer: "Listen man please find the bass sound that suits my playing, I know you can do it, I trust you..."
What is also true is that too many great bass players do the DI and because of this their sound is kind of generic so, at least for me it's not possible to recognize who is playing the bass as the sound signature is absent.
I think that this is the difference between "safe and creative" soundwise speaking.
Best regards