How do I get a good bass sound?

find and install SPAN on your computer, load it into your master buss fx bin.

record your bass.

run it thru the span program, and determine what your frequency curve looks like.

find the peaks, and figure out how to dial those out at the bass and/or sansamp.

then run your mix, without your bass, and analyze that.

do you have any frequency buildups WITHOUT your bass track in there?

then add the bass track in, analyze it again....


WHAT HAPPENED?

did the bass create a situation, say, where the kick and bass together are creating a big spike?

is there a mud range that is happening because of just the bass, the bass and the kick together, or the bass and EVERYTHING ELSE together...

you could be having masking issues too....
as well as frequency buildups.

bottom line is, you want each instrument to have it's own place to sit in the SONIC mix, and not step on each other.

the bass can either be here, or there...
but can't be both places at once.
find it's place, then carve it in with the settings on your bass, your sansamp, THEN at the track level with EQ, and finally at the master level.

It's going to be hard to say much useful without hearing a sample. It could be clashing frequencies with guitars or other instruments and not the sound of the bass itself. And it would depend on what type of music you are doing as to what a present bass means.