with a stand up bass I would try to have some type of mic blended in with the DI. Like if you were running a stereo pair onstage and blending the DI in with it, or had another instrument miced close enough to the bass to get some bleed. I have worked with a bunch of acoustic instruments doing sound and no matter how nice the pickup and how nice the pre they are running it into, I just dont like the sound of a DI all by itself. When you mic the bass are you micing the amp, or the bass itself?
Yeah, I hear you bigtime. That usually isn't a problem b/c I usually am using a stereo pair as my main source, then just adding a tiny bit of extra bass to get the balance a little better -- so in that instance, I'm thinking the clean DI might be perfect. Right now, I will mic their amp if they are using one, and if they aren't, then the bass itself, but since I'm more of a taper (and not their engineer), I try not to be too demanding of the here's my mic, let me put it right in front of you so you can play into it, and please don't knock it kind of thing, cause many times they aren't really thinking that their there to make a recording. So, in those cases (no amp), I might a little farther back than I'm sure the bassist would do in a studio or other live sound scenarios. Also, if they are amped, I tend to get bass bleed into all of the other mics anyway -- cause although I may be spot micing, it's not like ppl are playing directly into an SM57 or anything, I'm usually a bit back from each instrument so as to get a little more ambient and be a little more out of their way. That bleed is good and bad I've found. Sometimes it screws me on the phasing/imaging front, other times it makes it sound freakin' awesome cause it gives some spread to some of the instruments. It's been real hit or miss for me. Anyway, I hear you about the dry DI sound with the bass, but usually I'm just reinforcing a stereo pair, and if not, I usually do have bleed from the bass into the other mics, so I think I'll be alright, but point taken. Also, I've been reading up on micing the bass amp, and I think I might try something different next time I have the chance -- I've been putting my mic offset from the center of the cone, but next time I might try pointing it DFC straight into the cone cause I've read I'll get a little more definition and highs (and less mud) that way, but not sure about the SPLs b/c I'm doing this with a SD condenser (maybe I should buy one SM57 for the job, but my phantom is linked in pairs on the R4, will phantom fry a 57?).