I have told most of my MarkBass (MB) story in a few other forums, but this thread looks like the best place to do a full confession, plus I think it will contribute a lot to answering your question. First of all, I don't have the expertise of a lot of the people on this forum, but my starting point is a corporate professional with a decent budget to burn for a hobby. I also have a very good ear with relative pitch, so I am picky about my sounds.
I started my MB trip when I decided to get a bass about six years ago. I had a decent amount of money, so I bought a $750 used six string, and a new CMD 121H, at which time GC was touting as the best brand out there. Since joining TB, I now doubt that was the case, but I did drink the Kool aid, and I am still filling my glass cause it is at a quality level that I have not outgrown and realistically never will. To insert a bit of honesty, I like to give my son bass gifts for his birthday and set him up over the years with a Fender Rumble 100 and a BTB 505. I am many times jealous of the sounds he gets out of his rig. (No, I don't need to adopt any of you out there. I have limits to my funds.)
When taking it to gigs, I found myself getting lost in the mix, but not being able to turn it up too much before it would distort. I found myself at near-full volume on my guitar, with pre-amp at a third, and my volume 3/4s, but still being lost. My B string never felt rich enough either. (I would say anemic.) I decided to extend it with a used NY 151 due to the lesser weight, but still high quality. (1 wish they still made the 151 front port cab, but who knows why they discontinued it. I would have then had a frequency response of around 33Hz. I think the NY 151 is around 36+hz. (I am being lazy on the facts.))
So now I have a 15, 12 and horn. I now have the watts and frequency range to reproduce all my strings at every fret, but I was also bored with sounds I was getting, plus I wasn't getting that initial hard thump/attack in the chest I wanted for just about every note, even at lower volumes. I happened to have a generic "Art" $50ish tube pre-amp from (GC seems to be a common thread here), so I put that inline. That gave me that warm punch I was looking for. The last two items I purchased was a Boss ME-50B which gives me the effects to switch up with, plus some more pre-amp. One last note: I noticed that once I adjusted my chain of effects and pre-amps to not clip, then no matter what master volume, even up to 100%, the speakers could handle it very cleanly. That is because each speaker set is rated at 400 watts. With 500 watts being split, they never get more than 250 each. I was very impressed with this setup.
I also realized I was playing in old warehouses, and other buildings with questionable power, and after investing at least $2.7k, I wanted to protect my investment plus filter out any hum/noise that could be out there, so I purchased a Furman power strip. I believe it may have true sine wave, or some equivalent technology, plus it has surge cut off, which means, if it can't handle the spike, or any power event, it just cuts it'self, and all the equipment behind it, off to not be affected by the event. Very nice technology. If that sounds like a good idea, I think mine was the power strip just before the rack model. The lower models have diminishing features.
Wrap Up:
I have a post-surgery back, so weight is important. With both cabs coming in at roughly 45 lbs, I keep a fold-able hand cart with me (the $20ish kind) and put a small nylon strap on it to keep the cabs from taking a dive during transport. I have way more power/volume than I need before the venue is big enough to plug into. I can get feedback at every note, so I can play around like a guitar. If you look at my picture, I have my amp set at 1/4ish pre-amp, 40ish% at master volume. At this setting, I can barely turn on the bass volume before things start falling off the walls in the house and the cat starts freaking out because she thinks there are critters everywhere in the walls. (I like to crank it when others are not around and use a headset when they are.) Even when going to other locations to practice, I don't like bringing just the combo, because I miss the richness of the MB cabs and effects together. I do turn down the master though. I am at a very happy place in regards to my rig.
