How do you guys do it? I don't have any bass amp sims nor any money to buy moar stuff, so for the last demo I recorded I plugged the bass straight into the interface and then compressed it to fuck, used a guitar sim, and the eq'd it. Sounds like shit

DI, EQ (if needed), compression. Unless it's playing metal... then DI, duplicate tracks, low pass track 1, high pass track 2, compress track 1, distort track 2.

Compression and EQ. Sounds fine. Not the tone I'd normally go for, but it works and sounds like a bass. The guitar amp sim might be your issue there; the frequency response is probably all wrong. That being said, sending a duplicate of the track through a guitar amp sim could be worth your while.

Also, Ampeg SVX. It's quite good, as far as modelers go.

I have been doing pretty much 100% DI/Comp/EQ for a long while now. Occasionally i will also hit it with some light OD.

I guess i am not that picky about bass sounds. I want them to be huge and bassy, but it is definitely one of the elements that i am most prone to be brutal with EQ and mess with. Basically, i want it low and boomy, i don't mid beating it up to make it fit around other shit that i care more about, like drums and guitars.

Axe fx, but my singer record the bass now. Think he does DI recording.