Thanks everyone for the great advice. I have a two-channel A.R.T. passive direct box. Is that the kind of DI that will work before going into the Scarlett?
 
Should some sort of tube pre-amp also figure into the equation/signal flow? The Scarlett claims to have great pre-amps built in...

Line 6 Bass POD.
 
Bass good, troubles over.

 

Billy86
 I have a two-channel A.R.T. passive direct box. Is that the kind of DI that will work before going into the Scarlett?
 

I would plug the bass directly into the scarlet instument jack. No need for another DI box.
 
 



 

Billy86
Thanks everyone for the great advice. I have a two-channel A.R.T. passive direct box. Is that the kind of DI that will work before going into the Scarlett?
 
Should some sort of tube pre-amp also figure into the equation/signal flow? The Scarlett claims to have great pre-amps built in...

I would try both direct into your interface and the ART box (not at the same time). You might find that you like one better than the other.
 
Rocky
 

Neve RNDI. Bonus: it's a lot cheaper than you'd think from the name on the chassis.

http://rupertneve.com/products/rndi/

Bass di sounds great through a warm audio wa12 - or an ISA One.  Then you can add whatever kind of virtual amping for the mix.  I've used a TC Electric interface DI and that worked fine too, so the scarlet should work too.

I just plug the bass directly into my VS-100 and record raw.  I use Guitar Rig to get the tone I want.
BTW, I've found that Melodyne tightens up the raw bass track, fixing intonation issues.  Not sure I would want to do that with a mic'ed track.
 
Glen

For me it depends on the bass, but always direct.
For the picked Rickenbacker 4001 with roundwounds I go into a Black Lion B173 > Ashly SC50 > Motu 896mk3 plugged direct.
For the Roscoe 5 with roundwounds and the BSX upright I go direct into a modified ART TubePac.  Love the compression on that for a 5 string > Motu 896mk3.
The flatwound Fender P goes direct into a Black Lion Auteur > Ashly SC50 > Motu.
Mogami cables.
Once I have the performance I like I then clone that twice for 3 bass tracks and move them to a 'bass' folder and send all three tracks to a bass aux.
Track 1 is my direct sound.  I'll use that purely for bottom by low passing aggressively to somewhere around 250.
Track 2 is my amp sound.  I'll use Waves GTR for an Ampeg SVT sim and high pass at 200, making this my defined character sound.
Track 3 is distortion.  On this I'll either plug in Decapitator or a Marshall amp sim with Waves GTR cranked with virtually no bottom end.
Mix the 3 to taste and control overall bass volume with the bass aux.
On the aux I'll use ProChannel to sculpt eq by high passing at 60 with a gentle slope to leave room for the kick down there.  Notching out 3db 400hz get rid of a lot of mud and gives good detail to the sound.
Now I'll insert a Waves CLA76 and a multiband compressor to smooth the signal out.  After that it goes to a parallel compressor with the kick aux for 'bouff' thump.
This is probably more than you asked for but I get excited about sharing things I learn.
Cheers,
Mark.
 

Getting a good bass sound is a huge topic just like guitar. A lot depends on the type of music being recorded. 
And we do have the 2 options of using real or using a VST. 
Real:
Pros- if your a good bass player using a good bass there's nothing that can match a real bass track. And this is certainly a time saver if your a one take wonder.  There are things you play, very subtle things, that make a great bass track, these cannot be duplicated by a VST unless your willing to spend a month editing midi notes. For certain styles of music it is the only way to go. 
 
Cons- $$$- You need to spend the money and buy a good Bass with top quality Pups. Then you should have a good quality front end for it. Sure you can get away with plugging directly to some interfaces, but not all will give good results. My Scarlett 6i6 is one of them ( see later) 
 
VST:
Pros- It's free ( with Sonar) If your a better keyboard player than a Bass player VST are the way to go. We also now have the ability to play a bass part on a real bass or even a guitar and drop it to a Midi track. I like this a lot and will use this for my backing tracks exclusively to keep my bass the same song to song. You don't need a good bass or even worry about hitting bad note. Midi can fix anything! Best reason to own Sonar with Melodyn. 
 
Cons- It can take longer to build a good bass track manually (or poorly played).  For some styles of music the bass tone is pretty important and your not going to fool everyone that this was a real bass. But hey, you can come pretty darn close these days..
 
Using a real bass: 
The problem for me with going direct to my Scarlett 6i6 was the 6I6 pre amps are not very forgiving and I would always have a few overs. I did not have this issue with my Tascam interface so this is a design flaw. Bass needs to be tamed with a compressor so I bought a Joe Meek 3Q and problem solved. There are many solutions to bass front end and one needs to decide what suits their needs and tone. I also bought a little Fender Rumble 100 and that thing is amazing. It has a XLR ( DI) output that is ahead of the master volume and this allows me to set the monitoring level from right off to window rattle using the master. I find I play much better having the little 12" speaker right there at my feet while I lay down tracks. I have the headphones on to eliminate latency and I can feel my every touch of the strings.   I you need a small Bass amp check them out. 
I am looking at purchasing a Radial Bassbone. THAT is as good as it gets for bass DI. 

Hi, I am in a home setting in what seems like similar circumstances. I use a Squier P-Bass with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickup installed and I find this works fine for me. As mentioned by another, like guitars, everyone has their own idea of what they like.
I connect the Bass direct into my Audio Interface on the Instrument setting. I have used it this way for many years through a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 and now a Clarett 4 Pre and I'm happy with this setup. I treat the track with LP-64 EQ and the Sonitus Compressor.
Hope this helps.
JCB