Hmm interesting but VERY broad subject.
How are you going to segment the sections? By genre? New bass developments etc?
The reason I ask is because take for example the fender precision. The same precision can do bright and clanky for say metal and can also do muted "thud" type stuff for umm... motown? (I don't listen to any music with that type of sound ), now both of these recordings could be from the same era, same bass but just produced in a different way.
However, as you point out there is also the aspect of new developments, active / passive / filter based EQ's / new amp technologies / DI vs Mic'd / Mic Techniques