As we start to do more of our own recording, I just don't have a quality mic for bass. I've got a few mic's for guitar and some condensers for vocals, room and acoustic guitar but I really don't know what the 57 for bass is. I'd like to keep it under $200, maybe up to $300 on the top end. I've seen the MD421 mentioned as a good mic to cover multiple thing like bass and kick and even guitar. DI is always an option but I want a good mic'd sound as well.
I've recorded w/ an Audix D4 and a Shure Beta 56 both with good results. When you record bass you'll want to blend the mic signal w/ a dry signal for best results so a good DI is just as important as a good mic.
Well, I've been beat to the punch on this, but you should find success in any number of kick mic's, plus hey, it's also a kick mic which is a good tool to have in the bag.
A 57 blended with a DI would give you a nice tone. What are the other mics you have? Try them out, you might like what you hear.
Also the 421 is a great mic. I've used it on guitar, bass, kick drum, and love it on toms. I think I've even used them on horns too.
I have a 57 and I'm just not digging it on bass. I have a Rose NT1A, M2 and an Audix OM2. For DI I have a SansAmp pedal.
ElectroVoice RE20 with DI blend
I like my tech 21 bassvt DI pedal :)
My all purpose mics, including bass:
Shure SM7B
Shure SM57
EV RE20
Sennheiser MD421
Audio Technica AT4047
I've used all of them for bass on a regular basis, as well as guitar, vocals and various drum duties. The last two recording projects I played bass on I used a combo of SM57/RE20/AT4047 and a DI between my pedalboard and amp. The two dynamics eating the grill, the LDC a few feet back for some room sound. There's a lot of good LDC mics, the AT4047 is just what I have and it's always served me well, but seriously those 4 dynamic mics are meat and potatoes. They don't all work for everything all the time, but between all of them...pretty damn near close. I have a lot of other good ones too, like the Audix D4 as mentioned, but to me most of those are just slightly different flavors of the same thing. So if you don't like an SM57 you might like that or something else slightly more. I've read and heard a lot of good things about some of the Heil dynamic mics as well, but I have no direct experience with them.
Have you messed around with mic placement? That can change your sound significantly. Also do you plan on just using one mic? If you use 2 you can place one right at the coil for bite and the other one at the edge of the speaker for a more wooly sound and blend them together.
Otherwise ^ those mics are good choices. I use my SM7b for everything at home.
+1 for SM7 and RE20. Also, it's hard to go wrong with a plain ol' Beta 52. I see those go on Craigslist for $100-$125 fairly often.
You might look for a used CAD Equitek E-100. They are great bass mics.
http://tinyurl.com/c522qum
I use a Heil PR30/DI
pull the transformer out of an sm57 and wire it straight to the xlr. you'll need more gain from your preamp but does wonders for bass. mix that signal with DI.
The troo way to go:
(http://static.musiciansfriend.com/derivates/18/001/226/836/DV016_Jpg_Large_444623_back.jpg)
I've seen those used on kicks, do the really work all that well on bass cabs?