Wierd amp situation, advice?

[daystcity]

Hello Tb'ers, I am currently playing through, a tape player fooled into thinking It's recording live sound through a mike jack, an old stereo control amp (as a preamp) into an old 200 watt per channel stereo power amp with live wires going to alligator clips onto a quarter-cable going into my new(to me) peavey 1516.
This set-up is so I can basically play through something while I wait to get my head. No, this setup is not moving.. While this setup actually is sounding pretty good (in bedroom with brother guitar player) but I need something I can move that won't blow the speakers. I am pretty set on the carvin 600 watt model, but the cab can only handle 200 watts ( or so peavey says). I was wondering if I could mod the old power amp for quarter inch functionality (no big issure) and use the carvin as a pre-amp untill I can get a better cab. So after reading over the large post, I have a couple Of questions.

Easiest option I think is to get a watt limiter or watt moniter so I don't go over 200. (do these exist by themselves?)

Can I run a line from the carvin to the power amp bypassing carvins power amp?

Can I use my hand-built boost+lowpass as a pre and use the active controls on my bass?

And the hopeful, I remember hearing that black widows can handle like 800 watts, but my worry is the crossover with this amp.

Thanks for enduring my post, any comments are appreciated!

 

[daystcity]

Anybody have any ideas on what to do? A new cab is definitely in order in the future, but not now. By watt reader I mean a little display that has a meter go up everytime you play a note.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

The crossover may be the problem, and there are many many black widows, my 2x15 with BWs is rated at 400 watts, so yours being 200 watts isnt too far off.

Id say get the carvin and just use it. Just dont crank it all the way up. You will be able to tell when the speakers are in trouble, you'll be fine

 

[fenderhutz]

Isn't it I before E except after C and weird because weird is a weird word?

 

[scottbass]

Id say get the carvin and just use it. Just dont crank it all the way up. You will be able to tell when the speakers are in trouble, you'll be fine

+1. Take all that other pieced-together home stereo stuff out of your signal chain! Bass guitar > instrument cable > Carvin amp > speaker cable > speaker cabinet. If you're really worried about blowing the speaker, use the EQ controls on the Carvin to reduce the bass, and don't use any of those funky pushbutton tone envelope thingies on the Carvin, either. If you're not playing with a drummer (and your brother doesn't play though a Marshall stack) you will definitely be OK until you get a new cabinet.

 

[daystcity]

Hey, it's not junk! THe I'm basically using it as a stage monitor untill I get a better cab. I play with a drummer reguarly though but he has a P.A. system that I can always plug in to. So as long as I rely a bit more on the P.A. system I'll be fine. Sounds good to me guys. Fender: It's not wrong, it's a new pronunciation, kind of like word, but different. Really Weird.



Seems like it's good to me, it's actually pretty awesome getting such an awesome sound out of a $25 cab. I can't wait to actually move the cab outside my bedroom and take it to practice!