I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to be in the position to buy a new amp, and spent quite a while in a shop that had a lot of bass amps, and with an open mind, tried all of them!
Tried all the transistor/ hybrid stuff first, and most seemed to need a lot of time fiddling with gadgets on the amp to get a semi reasonable tone from them, but still sounded lacking. Was quite impressed with the MarkBass stuff, but couldn't get my head around all the bright yellow!
Last one I tried was an Ampeg SVT CL, and loved it straight away. Still got it. The weight of it is a killer though, and I can appreciate why this puts some people off. A few months ago GAS got the better of me, and I bought a Marshall VBA400 advertised on this site. Loving the Marshall as well. Way more powerful than the Ampeg, and gives very loud drummers something to think about! Gets a lot dirtier than the Ampeg tone wise, which is great for all the heavy rock/ metal stuff I do. Despite the Marshall having an extra two power tubes, it is a fair bit lighter than the Ampeg. Both amps sound great through the Ampeg 610HLF cab.
So, all in all, very happy with my lot.
I do keep looking at the Orange Ad200, and the Matamp stuff though............
Each to their own though, people like different things, for different reasons