First and foremost the player really does have to get it right first, although engineering skills are also needed of course! Also the arrangement needs to be such that it will sound right. If you're trying to get that pop sound their formulas are pretty easy.

My personal fav is P-bass, flatwounds, amp or REDDI. I'll usually get some distortion from the pre and/or a compressor after. REDDI into a slightly overdriven Neve is pretty darn cool!

When mixing ITB a track that someone else recorded, I will sometimes add a tiny bit of distortion from the old digi lofi plugin. The horror!