IMHO the "Maple" years for Gibson were the best. Only Gibson bass I ever owned was a Ripper.
I have nothing against the maple years and long made peace with Rippers/Grabbers/G-3s as well as RDs and Victories. But maple/alder or all-maple are wood combinations other firms such as Fender and Ric have rubberstamped for themselves. Mahagony construction was in contrast very much Gibson's own thing and it is what Henry J wanted when he bought the company.
That said, as the recent reissues of maple basses such as the Novoselic RD, the Ripper II, Grabber II and the G-3 II show, maple basses are no longer a dirty word even for the new era Gibson USA company. That was different in the noughties and nineties.
I never subscribed to the opinion that the Norlin era was crap. And I notice in guitar mags a reappreciation for the guitar models from that era (Marauder, Sonex, L-6 etc) too. Not so long ago anything by Gibson that wasn't an LP or, to a lesser extent, an SG was dismissed, yet this month's issue of "Gitarre and Bass" drools about what an excellent guitar the L-6 was. 10 years ago you couldn't have gotten arrested with one, now all of the sudden it is pivotal for Santana's more adventurous work, circa Love, Devotion, Surrender.