Peavey Black Widow/ homebrew amp question

[firemedic]

Maybe you folks can help me with this one:
I got a 15" Black Widow SPS speaker & installed it in a 2 1/2 cu ft sealed MDF cab. I haven't finished building the bass amp yet, but it will be a quad of 6CA7EHs output.
To test the cab I used a bass guitar thru a 40w guitar head that admittedly rolls off a lot of bass. I expected at least a little bit of thump but even turned all the way up, unimpressive would be the word to describe it.

My question(s):
Do you think a quad of 6CA7s will drive this speaker?
Can the anemic sound be explained by the bass rolloff? The same amp is pretty ballsy with a pair of 12s.
Bigger tubes I think will be asking a lot of the Twin Reverb PT. Unless I am mistaken. Any thoughts?

[SamClemons]

I would not expect a fair test with a 40 watt guitar head.

[firemedic]

This speaker is built like a tank. I hope I can power it with 4 tubes.

[firemedic]

Okay, I tried the cab with my @45w Vibroverb, which has more bass. Sounds much stronger. Still workin' on the bass amp.

[marshman]

Does the TR PT have enough heater current to supply the 6CA7s? I seem to recall they need @ 50% more than the 6L6GCs the TRs' came with...

I seem to recall that the early BWs were not the super-powered speakers we are accustomed to today...I would think 100 watts would drive it just fine, though I'm not sure it'll give you the headroom you need...but I'd love to hear it anyway.

[firemedic]

No, it does not have enough heater current.
Yes, I do have an aux 4A 6.3v tranny powering 2 of the power tubes and 2 preamp tubes.
Thank you for noticing the potential for PT meltdown though.

The speaker was new-in-box, looks unused. The spec sheet has it handling 400w continuous power, and peak handling is over 1000w. Even though I have to turn it up all the way, the VV normal channel sounds soooo good thru this speaker! I can't wait to get this bass head running!