I am a long time guitar player and as most guitar players I can play a little bass too -- lately I have been getting into it some as it has been needed at my church and I have also been playing some oldies gigs on bass too.  I have a short scale Danelectro reproduction from the 90's that I use at church and the intonation is pretty bunk on there and not very easily adjutable.
 
On the oldies gig I have been playing a bass the band has -- it might be an Ibanez, if not it is something along those lines, I am not that crazy about it either, it doesn't seem to have enough gain to suit me.  And the tone is just kind of blah.

I am a Fender guy so I already know what I like as far as style -- but my real question is about the electronics -- I'd like to buy a bass without spending more than necessary that has great electronics for recording.  I realize this is probably too big of a subject to have just a short answer for, there are probably lots of great pickups  for lots of different tastes out there.
 
But what I mean to say is I am hoping to find a bass that I can record DI and plugged straight in like that it sounds big enough and full enough and rich enough and with enough definition that it doesn't just scream out "this is an entry level bass guitar you are hearing!!"
 
Anybody got any advice for me?  Maybe I just need to go to the pawn shop and pick up a Fender that feels good to me and then put a killer pickup in it?
 
Thanks in Advance!!

I think its pretty hard to go wrong with a Jazz or P Bass.  I would recommend buying the best one you can afford, for me, that would be an American made Fender.  I think you will end up changing out fewer parts on it in the long run, if you start out with a MIA.  I personally, have never had an issue with the pickups that come stock in a MIA, I get plenty of bass tone out of them.  Remember, a bass amp is easily half of the equation.  How you play the bass also makes up for tone.
 
Myself, I currently only have my Rickenbacker as my main bass.  The other 2 alternate bass players in our worship band, both play Fenders.  One a Jazz and the other a P.  We are all playing Markbass amp heads through the same cabinet.  Each of us have a different model head, but they are all Markbass.  The sound board guy mentioned to me last weekend, that he really likes the tone of my bass, he said it had a lower more pronounced thump than the other bass's.  This is the opposite of what most people think of, when they think Rickenbacker.  I think my tone is different than the other 2 guys, because of how I dial in the amp and how I play the bass.  The Rick does add a touch of natural growl that is really nice though.  

I've had a few bass guitars through the years and my advice is what Mike said. 
 
Buy a good quality MIA bass.  I'd stay away from the ones with built in electronics that need a battery.  They sound good, but get a nice quality bass and it will sound good with normal passive pickups.
 
Buy used and you can save some money.

I'm a big Fender fan, and i've done this with both guitars and basses:
Find a MIM model that feels good.
Go on Ebay and buy better pickups.
Shield the pickup cavity.
Install the better pickups.
 
At worst, I've spent 1/2 of what a decent MIA guitar would.  And have the ability to tweak the instrument by choosing pickups that aren't necessarily standard.

Why has no one mentioned an Alembic?
 
Oh yeah, even used you're intp the multiple thou$and$ of $ for a proper one.
 
So a used MIA P-Bass is my suggestion.

I think bass, more than most instruments, is a sound that can be tone-shaped by other processes down the chain, so for recording purposes keep that in mind. You can make an Ibanez sound pretty good in a studio even if it has electronics that are less than top notch.
 
That said, I can share that I've had an Ibanez (5 string, great feel, but dodgy electronics), an ASAT bass by G&L (great electronics, dodgy feel), a Yamaha (decent but no cigar) and a couple of others worth little mention.
 
My current bass is a 5 string MusicMan Bongo. It is active, has two 9v batteries in the preamp with two humbuckers. It has balls for daaaaays. Deep, thunderous cajones. Perhaps I'm getting carried away.
 
My point is, it's active, records extremely well, can be tone shaped into something lighter if needed. It's really a challenge to take a light sounding bass and give it gut-wrenching depth through toneshaping eq.
 
 
And the tone is about the strings, too, so think about what you want there. Flatwounds for smooth and thumpy, roundwounds for bright and ringy, and vinyl wrapped for just sounding friggin great.
 
 
Based on your post, you are worried about electronics and gain - think about a Music Man with some active pickups. The Bongo will set you back maybe $1100 lightly used?
 
cheers and best of luck with the low down . . .
-Tom

I agree you can't really go wrong with a P or J Bass but American Fenders are quite pricey. Of course they're nice but since you can get Mexican Squiers for a fraction of the price and if you get a good one they play almost if not just as well.
 
Then if you aren't digging the tone you have plenty of money left over for a high end replacement pickup. I've been using my Squier P-Bass for almost 20 years. It's been across Canada multiple times and once through England in VERY agressive acts where it's gotten beat right to hell and it's still totally solid. Most of the time it was lent out to others. The only problem is the pickup housing is busted because some numbnuts dropped it facefirst onto a sidewalk because he was skateboarding with it *edit-> withOUT a case (still p*ssed about that).
 
If I were to start spending over $1000 for a bass I'd more than likely be looking at Ernie Ball Music Man models.
 
Cheers!

@Tom... HA!
 
Great minds... yadda yadda....
 
;-)
 

Thanks everybody for the advice -- I am kind of thinking along the lines of what Beepster has said.  Find a non US P-Bass or Jazz Bass and then have some money left over for putting in a pickup a little later down the line if necessary.  I just don't have a lot of money to play with.  I have been very happy with my Japanese Strat from 1986 over the years, and I know that was a notch above the price level of Mexico and some of the others that we have now.  But if I keep watching for a used one I will probably come across one with a good enough feel to it.
 
In the meantime I can borrow the band's Ibanez as they want me to practice on it anyway  and have that for use at church and home recording -- gonna put some new strings on there the crud from previous players is visible on the strings LOL -- and I can loan the Danelectro to a friend who thinks he might be interested in checking out how to play bass.

By the way here is an example of a bass sound I really love, anybody got any thoughts about especially what kind of pickups might have been involved here but also any other thoughts about the bass recording chain on this one?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPWqe7l6JK8
 

I think it is dangerous to listen to a recording or youtube video and base your tone likes, bass guitar or amp off of it.  A producer can manipulate the tone to almost anything with recording software, EQ and compression.  Really, the only way to get the live tone you want is to sit down with your bass at the amps and cabinets and test them out in person.  Then to test drive it in a live situation, with your band, in your church.
 
Remember, even the cabinet, speakers and speaker sizes will effect your tone.   
 
When I bought my Markbass head, I had test driven heads for 6 months before purchasing.  Then, I made sure I had a 30 day return policy from Guitar Center.  I was concerned as to how it would sound in a live band/ room situation, with our worship band.