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I love my crockpot, too.
If I cannot "babysit" my stovetop, then I make my tomato sauce ("gravy") in it and cook slowly alllll day. When I come home from work the house smells wonderful.
If your sauces are tasting one-dimensional, I would take a look at what you are putting in there...are you salting enough? Perhaps the addition of some grated carrots for sweetness, or a cup of a good robust red wine, or some hot pepper flakes, will add depth of flavor. I never experience "bland" gravies coming out of my crockpot. Also, I find a good olive oil helps...

Peposo!

If your tomato sauces taste flat, just add the herbs and spices a few minutes before you're done, not at the beginning.
But personally, I only long-cook a meat-and-tomato sauce (to blend the flavours), not a tomato-only sauce, which loses its brightness if cooked more than minimally. Sometimes a little neutral grain spirits will pick up a flat-tasting tomato sauce, since it breaks down the walls of plant cells, and releases more flavour (alcohol is an organic solvent).

I agree with juliebugs the addition of red wine ought to add more depth to your sauce and alcohol is known to be a flavor carrier. I'm assuming you're using dried herbs and spices--if they've been open a long time they may have lost some of their punch. If they've been recently opened maybe you just need more. You could also try adding some fresh herbs the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, then you would have the richness and depth of the slow cooking with brightness of fresh herbs for the finish.

If your food tastes bland coming out of the crockpot, I'd say it a matter of seasoning vs. evaporation. If you're using a printed recipe designed for stovetop cooking, they figure that there's going to be evaporation during the cooking time, and the spices are adjusted for that. But in the crockpot, either there's little or no evaporation, or, depending on what you're cooking, you might end up with more liquid than you started with. So it tastes more watered-down than expected.

I'd suggest tasting and seasoning towards the end of the cooking time so you get a better idea of how much more you need to add when you're cooking in the crockpot.

I do own a crock pot. My range has a great simmer and I use it.
Every dish I have ever had outside of chili from a crock pot was pedestrian.
I don't think it is my kind of thing.

I love my crock pot and use it often; never had I had anything turn bland or pedestrian in it, from various braises (stews, different kinds of meatballs, roasts, short ribs, etc), to apple or peach butter during the "preserving" season, to "baked" beans (btw, I've learnt from Alton Brown that crock pot was originally invented to cook beans), to stocks and broths, to amazing pulled pork. It's a great kitchen tool, if you know how to use it - you certainly can't blame the pot if the food is bland, it's like blaming the pitcher if the iced tea in it is not sweet enough:-).

When you cook in a crock pot, as dbcurrie pointed out, you need to take into account things like lack of evaporation, as well as the fact that you don't get a sear in it. Naturally, if you just drop things into it, they won't magically turn flavourful on their own (although it does work with stocks and broths when you drop the right things, but that's different). So meats should be seared and vegetables sauteed prior to combining them in a slow cooker, and the correct seasoning may be a matter of trial and error. But once you get a hang of it, you can cook fantastic, flavourful food in a slow cooker.

oh hells bells I DO NOT own a crock pot. My not dropped off.

I use mine for soup all winter - beef barley, ham and bean, pea, you name it. I also make stock in mine, particularly if I don't why to tie up a burner on my stove. I make beef stew as well. I don't do pasta sauces - I have my own stove-top recipes that I just love.

I love my mom's original crockpot from the 70's I think. That thing could cook anything. It was a pain to clean (no removable liner) but it was worth it. The new crockpots that we have now (with removable liners) just aren't as good. Mind you, they are OK but nothing like the 70's machine...

We don't use our crockpot enough. But I've been meaning to, there are so many good crockpot recipes out there. Like this one:

Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Stew

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless lean beef, cubed
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 (10.5-oz.) cans beef broth
6 C. water
4 stalks celery, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 C. chopped fresh parsley
1 C. barley
1 tsp. dried thyme

Directions

In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the beef in the oil for 5 minutes, or until browned. Stir in the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and place seasoned meat in a slow cooker. Add a little water to the skillet and stir to pick up the browned bits. Add to the slow cooker. Add the broth, water, celery, carrots, green onions, parsley, and barley. Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours, or until the vegetables and barley are tender. Add the thyme just before serving.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Hillary
Chew on That

I just purchased my very first crock pot. I received a slow cooker cookbook for my birthday and I have been flipping through it looking at the recipes. Honestly, when I bought it I thought I would use it more. I have made the same dish 2 times, Asian short ribs.

they're great for keeping mashed potatoes warm when you have lots of other stuff to cook and do right before dinner........

as well as other usual stuff..... i make my dog food in it also.... chicken gizzards, sweet potatoes, broccoli .... doggies just eat that stuff up.....

@TheCheapChick - I agree w/ the earlier postings, re WYIIWYG ("what you put in is what you get"). I too make tomato-based sauce that simmers all day, and I learned long ago, from my grandmother and my mother - each of whom made excellent, but radically different-tasting - tomato sauces, that you need to give the pot something to work with. (As a retired teacher of English, sorry for the dangling prep.) Definitely saute your onions and garlic first, and then saute whatever meat you're using. I tend to favor a pork-to-beef ratio of 2:1 or 3:1. (My wife uses more of a 1:1 ratio.) THe pork I use is generally ribs or country ribs; the beef is generally small chunks of stew meat. (NO, I **don't** cook meatballs in the sauce - I'll deal w/ that later!) And then I pour in the tomato ingredients - generally, [Italian pear] tomato puree and pear tomato strips. For every three large cans of those, I add a small can of tomato paste. Once everything's a-bubblin', I add my "secret" ingredient: beef marrow bones (the # varies based on size - two, if they're about 6" long each, or anywhere between four and eight if they're small or flat). [My wife's "secret" ingredient, on the other hand, is adding three sweet Italian sausages.] Next come the additional spices: oregano (dry) and basil (preferably fresh). And the salt - just enough to "spring" the flavor. After it's been cooking a couple of hours, I generally add approximately 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of wine, red table wine in a pinch, or (my preference) Marsala or cream sherry. (They add a touch of sweetness.) And then it cooks until it's an appropriate thickness - I hate sauce that leaves you w/ a bowl of water after you've eaten the macaroni!!

Now let's deal w/ the meatballs. Look, the stuff you get in restaurants and in frozen packages @ supermarkets, are just balls of overcooked meat. WHATEVER you use for a meatball recipe, cook them slowly in a frying pan - an incredibly labor-intensive process that leaves you w/ an incredibly tasty "shell" on your meatballs - or lay them on a baking sheet and cook them for 15-20 minutes @ 350 degrees [F]. And for heaven's sake, make them SMALL - just a mite larger than the meatballs you find in Italian Wedding soup.

If you want to serve meatballs w/ your sauced macaroni, that's fine - add 'em to the sauce you're reheating for dinner use, or just heat 'em separately and plop 'em on top of the macaroni after it's been sauced.

(I know, I know, I sound like a terrible tomato sauce martinet. My only excuses are that I'm the proud product of two widely divergent Italian traditions, and nobody can get enough of the sauce when we have guests over for a macaroni dinner. And as I've mentioned above, my wife - the proud product of English and Irish traditions - also makes a damned good sauce that impresses even my mother!!)

Good cooking to all, and to all a good meal!