BassyBill does. Maybe he'll chime in here...
Yep, I certainly do have a CMD 102P combo, it's my main amp. I use it just on its own without an extension cab for most gigs. For small venues at moderate (ie, non ear-bleeding) volumes, it's fine for on stage and out front sound. For medium and larger gigs I get PA support and the combo gives me the onstage sound (plus some of the out front sound as well, supplemented by the PA). On one occasion I've used it with an extension cab (115) when I needed more power on stage. I play quite a wide range of styles with different bands and I've used the combo with BG, fretless and EUB instruments with equal success.
This is a great amp. In fact, I've been gigging for 30 years and this is the best I've ever used for my purposes. It won't compete for volume with a huge stack, but it would be unfair to expect it too. For a 210 combo it is LOUD, clear and has more than enough oomph to cope with the situations I've described - it's amazing what this pumps out for such a small, light (44lb!) amp. I don't use a 5 string, but with a 4 string there's plenty of lows from this combo.
The tone is great for me because of the clarity and it's pretty neutral. There's some warmth there, but not much "grit" which is exactly how I like it. I don't need to use much EQ, I set it fairly flat except for a slight high end roll off with the VLE and then EQ from my bass as necessary, usually not a lot. It's my view that if you need to use a lot of EQ then you've bought the wrong gear!
Features are fairly basic, but everything works fine for me. The DI out gives a post EQ signal and engineers have said it's nice and clean. The pre-amp will take a really high input before it clips, the light seems to come on a lot less than some other amps (very minor point). I don't think there's much difference between front and rear ports, BTW. A quick read up on how ported cabs work will help clarify why I believe this to be the case.
Overall, no complaints at all, I think it's one of the best bits of gear I've ever bought. No pics, but you can hear a recording of a gig where I used it in this thread...
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=321815
I DI'd the bass but the stage mics (lots of 'em!!) picked up a lot of the onstage bass sound and what you hear is actually not a bad indication of what I was hearing on the night. Try listening to the mp3s of "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" or "The Chicken" in that thread.
Hope this helps.
