I've been playing through my Peavey basic 112 for a looong while now - been looking at the Ampeg Portabass combo at Yamaha, the SWR baby baby blue at SL, and the EBS Gorm at Davis. The SWR is great - but it's way overpriced at SL...
If it sounds good to you, carries enough power to suit your needs and fits your budget - go fer it
it's value for money, treat it like an investment.. my recently acquired ba-115 (100w) $800, from music plaza. it's damn gd, tone is amazing... and it's gd enough for home practice and small-medium gigs.
no, i dont have a big house live in the normal hdb 4room heh. anw.. i think a ratio of 3:1 eg ur guitarist uses 150w, better off to use 400w-450w?? altho you could always tell your guitarist to turn down the vol..
there was once i used a SWR head and trace elliot 400w amp vs my guitarist's 160w peavey bandit, i drowned out the guitar and he turned it up more, and in the end all you heard was bass, guitars and soft drums. vocals got totally wiped out..
and the ampeg's gd enuff for me. peavey's not bad too the old style with the pull out knobs
i think your neighbours are pretty cool people. haha.
i wanted to get a 40 watt amp but even though im using my Crate BT15, they already complained to my dad once. So he said, "no more loud bassing around the house!"
when practicing at home just practice with more treble and less bass. Also, if you can get a stand for your bass amp (just put it on an elevated surface), your neighbours will complain less since less vibrations will travel across the ground. =)