yeah ive always found the best way to make kick n bass smack is to compress the **** out of a long 808 kick. it doesnt have much upper bass/mid punch but for pure weight at proper volumes you cant beat it, you certainly dont need a bassline to beef it up.

another thing i do a lot is to put a steep LP over a kick and have it follow an envelope with a v quick decay, this brings the frequency content of the kick down to meet the bass n the both seem to gel a lot tighter.