Bass guitar direct recording that sounds good???

A DI should work fine unless you just don't like that type of sound. What kind of soundcard are you using and what kind of bass sound are you looking for?
If it's an amped bass sound you prefer, there are a bunch of VST-based bass ampsims too, most notably Ampltube Ampeg, TH2 Mark Bass and Softube's Bass Amp Room.

Yeah, for a "direct" sound any reasonable DI should get a decent sound. For a passive bass you need to make sure the DI's input impedance is high enough or you'll get a dull sound - some audio interfaces and mic preamps with "instrument" inputs come up short here. Of course you need to get a good sound out of the bass itself.
 
For amp sounds, I like the Amplitube stuff which has a wide variety of good bass amp models, depending on what kind of sound you're going for.

My personal opinion is that the direct box won't make much of a difference on a DI bass unless you have an exceptionally horrible direct box.  I use the Hi Z input on my interface with no direct box and that works fine.
 
I like the unaltered sound of the DI'd bass, with maybe a little limiting later.
 
For amped sounds, Line 6 doesn't make the Bass Pod anymore, but if you can find one, it has a good range of amp sounds.  (Line 6 has newer products to replace the Bass Pod and, unfortunately, I am not familiar with the current bass solution.)  Of course, there is Guitar Rig.  EZ Mix 2 has a few really good bass presets.

For a while I was using a  BH 250. It has a DI XLR output and can be run without a speaker too. 
http://www.tcelectronic.com/bh250/
 
You download Tone Print efxs and can achieve just about any sound you like. I actually used it in by pass mode ( bypasses the EQ and EFX's)  most of the time and found it was the sound I liked best.
But then I bough my Focusrite scarlett 6i6 and found I got pretty close to the same sound just plugging right in. So depending on your interface there's no saying if it will be good or bad. My Tascams sounded boring in this regard.  
I have upgraded my Yamaha's Bass pick ups and personally I think that a good bass sound starts right there with the instrument. 
 
I do like to use compression most times but if I play carefully I get a good even track. 

DI is fine. Amplitube's Ampeg bass is awesome!!!

I don't know what kind of music you're doing or what results u r looking for, but some free options (I do like my Ampeg tho) include maybe double tracking the bassline, using compression, eq, tube and saturation  or whatever on the automated copy.  I've even used an automated synth overdub track to thicken and give a unique sound to the bassline.

I use the Behringer V-amp Pro quite often for direct input recording of my basses.  If you don't enable the effects or modify the tone or turn on the amp modeling, the V-amp Pro is silent and works quite well.  I also direct in to my M-audio FireWire 410.  I really can't tell any difference in quality of sound from either interface although using the Behringer gives you an option of creating stereo tracks.
 
Good luck in your quest,
 
Dan

A quick mention that Audiffex has just updated their Gallien Krueger bass amp sim to 64 bit! This plug in is amazing! I have used all of them and it always wins out. It contains 3 GK bass heads, every cab that GK builds, and a wide variety of mics. It is also stereo so you can run a woofer cab with one mic and a midrange cab with another mic. Both mic setups are completely adjustable. I have used this as my main goto bass plug for years! Highly recommended!
Sit tight and I will post the link.
As for the DI, I never used one. I plug my basses direct into my interfaces making sure the inputs are set for high impedance. I usually monitor thru my plugin as I track. Any compression or eqing gets done in Sonar as I track. You just have to make sure yoyur input at the interface stays out of clipping territory.

@Sidroe
I've been eyeing those GK emulations for quite some time. I've used GK amps live for years and just love the sound. The GK attempt in the Line 6 toneport, was in the ball park, but sub par (Not a bad sound, just not quite a GK). The one in Amplitude is better, but just doesn't quite nail it. The sound clips on the Audiffex website really suprised me on how much they sound like my live rig. They really have that GK "glug" sound that I love. These are going to be my next software purchase.

As a guitarist who also plays and records bass I bought the Pod X3 a few years ago as I could use it live as well as in the studio and it has some really good bass amp sims which I much preferred to software options because latency for me was still an issue.
 
I've not tried the bass pod XT but it can only be better than my pod X3 which I think is excellent.
Looking on their site it seems they don't have a replacement for the bass pod so you'd probably have to get a second
hand one. The Pod X3 has hardly come down in price and if anything it's gone up which might be something to do with their abandoning of the bass pod ?
 
Steve

Rodreb, I understand what you are saying about a ready to go bass sound right out of the box. I think I can speak for all of us when I say there is no such beast that exists. Any instrument, percussion, keys, guitars, bass, etc. always will have to be tweaked here and there to get it to fit the bill for the song at hand. What I would suggest is to look at the choices, make the one YOU feel best suits your needs, and make as many presets of your own, fitting the material you do. You don't know how many hours and sometimes days it takes in the studio to get that killer tone you've hunted for just for that one song. Then the next song, there you are changing instruments, twiddling knobs, moving mics, just to fit the next song.
I have probably a dozen presets to start me off in the GK amp plug. They are just starting points. I still might have to adjust the mids or top end. Whoops, too much bottom!
Don't get too mired down in the details. Get something that sounds as good and you can live with and continue on with the writing. You hear that one phrase a lot amongst musicians! "I can live with it!" Good Luck!

FWIW, I've bought a lot of different DI's for recording Bass.

• Reddi
• U5
• BDDI
• RBI
• RPM
• Bass Pod
• Pod HD500
• Bass V-Amp Pro
• B3

 
Out of those units, only two remain.
The Avalon U5 and the Zoom B3.
 
I wanted to like the Reddi... as many folks absolutely rave about it.
Perhaps mine was defective, but (to me) it didn't sound anything like a B15.
My unit was a little prone to noise.  Especially bad when used with a Ric 4003 that was poorly shielded.
 
The SansAmp units all had a nice "grind"... but the dynamics were a bit too squashed.
The BDDI and RBI have a tendency to sound pretty "clacky" emphasizing the upper mids.
The RPM has a ton of gain on hand.  You can get crazy with the distortion.
You can quickly get decent sounding bass with any of the SansAmp units.
Although super convenient and low cost, the SansAmp units (IMO) produced pretty decent but not great results.
 
The POD units are certainly convenient and low cost.
Many of the amp/cab combinations sound muffled or lack articulation (especially the Bass POD).  Woof!
Granted, there's not a lot of top-end in a mic'd bass cab, but there's still definition/articulation.
The POD HD500's Ampeg model was IMO the best of the bunch.
I'd opt for SanAmp units over the POD range.
 
The Avalon U5 is built like a tank.
The sound is what you'd expect.
Clean, clear... and a little "larger" sound than using a Radial DI.  Guess you could describe it as "hi fi"
I don't use the onboard "tone shaping" preset EQ settings.
The U5 lets the character of the bass come thru.  It's enhanced slightly (similar to using a Neve preamp - larger but the basic tone isn't changed).  The U5 won't produce an "amped up" Ampeg type of sound.
The cost of the U5 is below the Reddi... and a bit more than the rest.
If you're going to use AmpSim plugins, IMO the U5 is your best DI option.
 
Of all the Amp Modeling units that I've owned, the inexpensive Zoom B3 is by far my favorite.
I've mentioned this before, but there's a Bassman 300 model in there that's absolutely fantastic.
I owned a SVT Classic (80-lb head) strickly for recording.  Using the Zoom and tweaking that Bassman 300 model, I compared results side-by-side with the SVT Classic/mic'd cab.  The Bassman 300 model yields results that sound so good... I decided to sell the SVT.  You can get a little dirt/grind... and the tone is balanced, full, articulate.
I'm into classic-rock bass tone... and this is it.
For a low cost Bass recording option, you can't beat the Zoom B3
 
 
 
 

Mike, 
 
I may grab another Reddi... and try swapping out that tube.
Everyone raves about that unit...
 

One more quick tip. You may want to take the sound directly from the "preamp out" or XLR send of a real bass head. A GK400RB or an AMPEG SVT is heavenly for this type of direct recording but it will need some effects love once it gets into the DAW.
However considering you want to have a hot rod sound going straight in, then I'd say the bass pod is the way to go as you get many amp/cab options, eq, compression, etc..