A lot of bassist use stereo basses. Bridge or rear for tight,clean tone. Neck or front for depth. We also use stereo chorus effects, sound processers blending triple sub octives and octive up effects, stereo delay and on and on. They are not recorded in mono! Listen to Chris Squires bass on 'Yours Is No Discrace' sweeping left to right. This isn't your daddy's bass.Maybe your set up or room is smearing the bass, but stereo bass exists. Sorry for the rant.