So on my last recording, before my Otari MX-70 I/O cards went south, I made a great discover!! A DI, a pedal compressor and a SM-57 make my Fender P-Bass and Ampeg B-15N sing.
I had mostly been miking my amp with bass specific mics or just straight DI. This time I used my Radial DI (which was recommended to me by Howard Bilerman at one of his recording workshops at Hotel2Tango) and a standard issue 57. Boy was I happy with the results. I had to move the mic around a bit to compensate for phase but once i found the spot it was sweet. The 57 caught all the warmth and grit from the amp, the DI provided all the tight bottom end and the compressor (only slightly on) made the setup sustain for days. I put a touch more compression on during mix down to control the dynamic and was very pleased with the results.