Got myself an Alto stick for my 62 birthday (thank you!) but I am unfamiliar with electronic instruments and amps. It's recommended in the literature that came with my stick to get a 2 channel amp - which I dutifully obtained. Sadly when I hook up I get all base or all melody. Can't seem to get both. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but I'm getting particularly frustrated. Want to play this wonderful instrument but when I can't even hook it up right... well, you know.

There may be a mono toggle switch on your Stick. If so, try the other position

SA

Welcome ccaram! You've got the right instrument, and you've come to the right place for all things Stick. Several years ago I was in your exact same position and took the plunge. I can't recommend highly enough that you finish the job and get lessons from one of the great teachers who haunt these boards.

I don't have any technical support to lend you on your question, but I CAN tell you you've found a great and very supportive musical community.

Sputnik

hi!
first of all, not to worry, we'll get it sorted

Could you tell us what amp you have?

OK, I assume you have the cable that is Y shaped.
The deal is the single plug end goes into the stick and the end with 2 plugs go into the amp..one plug carries the bass string the other plug carries the melody string..you want to plug BOTH those into the amp - on different channels

if you only have ONE of the jacks from the Y plugged in, you'll only get that set of strings.

The point behind doing this that way is so you can control the tone, levels and all that good stuff (don't worry about effects just yet...maybe never..nothing wrong with the sound of the stick as it is)
independently so you can get the best tone and balance out of the string

So, once you have BOTH jacks plugged into the amp - into channel 1 and 2 respectively, the level controls on the amp channels should give you control over the volumes
(if you let us know the type of amp we can be more specific)


As Steve (Lee Vatip ... get it?) mentions- there is an alternative -- you probably have a little toggle switch on the side of the pickup , usually facing up at you if you are wearing the instrument.

flipped one way, it acts just as I was saying - but flipped the other way, it bridges the sides into mono (single channel) so you can run the whole stick over a single jack -- nice if you left your cable at home or have to use a single channel amp
(if you flip the switch and everything goes silent - DON'T PANIC. just swap which Y plug you have going into the amp. -- that has to do with staying compatible with regular guitar amps and cables)

To get you immediately playing in 2 minutes, flipping that little switch to mono isn't a bad way to go.
you know, have some fun and we'll work out the technical muckety muck

Toggle on the pickup module like Steve said.also sometimes the tone knobs get caught in between tone modes.turn them to get tone frequency again.
.

Thanks to all! My amp has only one place to plug anything into. Apparently I was sold an amp with a bunch of effects knobs but not two channels. Could be the problem. Took them at their word this was what I needed (it was marked way down on sale so I'm betting they just wanted to get rid of it - and I can't get a refund)
A least I'm wiser. And a bit more educated on the subject.
thanks again everyone! Will let you know how things progress from here.

what's the model of the amp?

a lot of times guitar centric folk (hey, that's my first instrument too, so not throwing stones) don't really get some of the requirements

let's see what we can figure out

BTW -- it's pretty common for guys to..instead of running a single 2 channel amp, to run 2 separate amps, one for the melody side, one for the bass side

it's kind of fun because you can separate the amps b a few feet and the bass comes out over there, but the melody is coming out over here -- it heightens the two instrument feel.
and you can get ampsthat sound good in each range


but don't let all that get in your way - flip that sucker on mono and start playing

but let us know the amp you have (also, which pickup is on that guy?)

There is only one input, then control knobs for drive, bass, mid, treble and volume, a couple of "smart fx" knobs and a master control knob. Then a jack for mp3, headphone/record out and what looks like a port for an Ethernet cable. I do have another simple amp and will try the two amp approach. Fun just fiddling with all this stuff even if it does get a little exasperating.

checking in.....
how's it going?
any technical issues we can help with?
mom, why is dad sleeping in the car tonight?