A mic? What mic was that? It sounds like it's in another room. If you don't know what you're doing with microphones you'll end up with a crappy result like you did.
This is not a good indicator on how to record. Most albums have used a mix of both mics and going direct into the sound board. Both have sounded good. Something to remember is that a good mix comes from a good sound engineer, a good producer, and musicians who are willing to pay attention.
Not anywhere close to most albums. Even what you are calling direct isn't direct at all. It may be a di'd signal into a nice preamp then an ea then perhaps a touch of compression...and a good mix is worthless without a good song. Some of the biggest records in the world have crappy mixes and sound pretty bad.
I've heard you want both and to mix more towards the direct. You probably want a mic more sensitive to treble frequencies and farther away from the speaker cone...
