I find when recording live bass, I almost always have to settle for quieting the mix so the bass level is proper. It's kind of hard in my circumstances to get the signal hot enough without distorting, so I find it easier to record around -18 to -22dBFS and mix somewhere between -12 to -18dbFS, using the bass and drum levels as a guide. I crank the whole mix up later, and usually things come out pretty even.

But are you saying that you can't even get the signal hot enough to distort? I've never had that problem, just that I needed the signal to go in low to avoid clipping.

I mic a bass cab, by the way, no direct signal. But even when I used to record direct, I still had issues with having to keep the level low. I'm sure with better equipment, and a perfect recording environment, one would be able to record the bass at whatever level.