I talked to Paul for about an hour he's never had a Stick player over it would be a cool experience for both of us.

That sounds like a great time; I hope you can make it happen. Come to think of it, I may return to Greenboy's forum soon.

I recently thought to look for a used Carvin BX1500 or BX1600 head, and I found a pair of the former for a bit less than $400 (to be clear, they were two separate listings). I remembered that I loved those amps for their extensive EQ and the ability to integrate an external preamp via an internal line mixer. My attempt to find something similar led me to the following plan (EDIT: Ashdown is out, due to their remarkably poor reliability record.):

Amp

• Hartke HA3500C Head; 37 Pounds
• MXR M81 Bass Preamp; 1 Pound
• fDeck HPF-Pre Series 3 (Already Owned); 1 Pound
• MXR M238 Iso-Brick; 2 Pounds

Total, Shipped: $754.97; 41 Pounds

Speaker Cabinet

• Genzler Bass Array 12-3 Slant; 32 Pounds

Total, Shipped: $899.99; 32 Pounds


Grand Total: $1,654.96; 73 Pounds

This will allow me to run the melody side of my Alto Stick into the MXR M81 Bass Preamp, which will connect to the Hartke's effects return, thus correcting the input impedance mismatch (the Hartke's is 100kΩ) and allowing me to fine to the MXR's output with the Hartke's graphic EQ. I could also use a second MXR into the Hartke's input, using the Hartke's parallel effects loop as a line mixer. Lately, I find myself drawn to the “singer/songwriter” approach of treating the Alto Stick as a unified range. One way or the other, that should provide plenty of EQ capability.

I am increasingly drawn to the idea of getting a Greenboy Fearless F110 or F112 (the latter being $60 more expensive, about five pounds heavier, and about 3dB more sensitive), as that would allow me to demonstrate my frequency-response goals to those who have full-size Sticks (yes, I am thinking about sharing a cab at a seminar…possibly Interlochen). Going with a Greenboy cab would keep the weight about the same and add approximately $300 to the total.

A quasirandom thought about Greg reminded me to check out Bag End cabs; it turns out that they make a cab which may be a decent compromise for an Alto Stick: the S10N-N (PDF link), weighing 27 pounds and costing $629 (Avatar's nEARful, the SB123, costs only $45 more—though it is 14 pounds heavier).

Its specified high-frequency reproduction is short of the fourth overtone of C6: the note at the 15th fret of the highest melody string (in Bob's Expanded Alto tuning), which I figure is about as high as I would normally play (with regard to frequency, not hand position).