Example of just applying an amp/cab sim in the DAW, here’s a track I recorded of me working on Hysteria a while back, just the clean bass and my drum machine for tempo:
here’s the clean bass track with an amp and cab sim applied in Reaper (Ignite Amps SHB-1 and NadIR IR sim, respectively):
Sounds like it came through a slightly overdriving tube amp and cab, with the advantage of not having to deal with noise on the mic.
Good cab sims let you position the virtual mic in different places as well, for different effects.