I have a SansAmp Bass Driver DI (like the one pictured on the earlier post).  Best investment I made for recording  bass.  I have an old Ibanez Blazer 4 string "P bass" and a 12 year old Yamaha 5 string with active electronics.  The 4 string nearly sounds like an upright bass with the SansAmp. 
 
Before I got the SansAmp, when I recorded direct I would have to use some type of modeling (usually a POD Farm Bass) to try and get a "decent" sound.
 
 

do you have an outboard compressor ?
I run my bass into a compressor before plugging into my audio interface.
it livens up the roundness and brings it to life. gives the signal a good boost but more importantly an even high signal.
just don't over do it.

Anderton
Define "good"...Finnish death-metal whaling songs?

And I thought I was the only one recording in that genre!

Been using the Amplitube Ampeg SVT for a few years now and I'm always able to dial in the sound I want with my P-Bass directly in my Focusrite Scarlett. 

slyman
Been using the Amplitube Ampeg SVT for a few years now and I'm always able to dial in the sound I want with my P-Bass directly in my Focusrite Scarlett. 

same here +1.
with the addition of the outboard compressor I use before entering the Focusrite input section.

Give the CA-X Bass amps in SONAR a shot. Probably not surprisingly, I use them all the time. You'd probably have the best results with Bass Rock and Bass Growl.
 

I've been using an MXR M80 Bass DI pre/DI box running on phantom power for years. The clean sound is excellent, though the distortion side is fizzy, lacks lows and is generally nasty rather then Lemmy. Run into a 15" full-range PA bin with a mic preamp built in and it's also a usable relatively compact and inexpensive stage rig.

Not tried the Sansamp pedals, though I have a couple of "Character series" guitar ones and they're pretty good. Better than software/digital emulation in my opinion.

For emulators the Amplitube Ampeg stuff is reasonable, especially the flip-top Ampeg which has some depth to it rather than sounding too fake. The Waves GTR bassamp is also not too bad, and the free STA Gallian Krueger emulation is worth looking at. Though overall I prefer analogue hardware for the job.

As a basic compressor the MXR Dynacomp is OK and the Keeley two knob compressor is basically the same thing only a bit quieter. At least, they're not as bad as many say (my opinion again). Just keep the amount of compression low, like all Ross-derived designs they're essentially a very high ratio limiter with just a threshold control and it's easy to over-do things. Pigtronix make nice optical compressor pedals. Avoid the EHX ones, they're inclined to be noisy.

Edited to add - For good sounding plugin bass compressors grab Cakewalk's CA-2A if you haven't already, it's excellent.

Craig, it's a bummer the search filter on the FX doesn't work for the FX Chains you create.
 
I do sometimes forget them when I'm working to go poke around in that folder of chains.
 
The folder of chains is very important and MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN!! :P

gswitz
Craig, it's a bummer the search filter on the FX doesn't work for the FX Chains you create.
 
I do sometimes forget them when I'm working to go poke around in that folder of chains.
 
The folder of chains is very important and MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN!! :P

I guess they're for the cognoscenti