I recently bought an Ampeg Baby Bass presumably from the later 60's. It was strung up with an astounding sounding set of Gut strings, plain D and G and Silver wound E and A. The A string was shreaded with the silver wrapper was coming off everywhere. I thought I'd try some other strings so I tried a set of Helicore Hybrids (Med) which sounded a whole lot like my Fender fretless (been there done that). Lost all those short notes and big round tone. Felt like super light flatwound electric bass strings. Hated them. Took those off and put on a new set of Labella 980's gut. That set, the E was dead or falsing, the A sounded pretty good, and the D and G were hollow sounding. I played two 3 set nights on them. Thought they might break in but I don't think so. I'll keep those as spares.

I put the E D and G from the orginal old set back on with the A from the Labella's and that sounds great again. Big fat tone, real big notes that have little to no sustain. Great for the Country and Salsa things I'm doing.

I'm probably going to use that set for awhile. Meanwhile I'm thinking ahead to when these things finally give up. I fear not to long from now. The E is already blacking out pretty good. They are kind of drifty and need frequent tuning. I'd prefer to just get a fresher set of the old things.

Thing is I can't figure out what these old things are. I've surfed around here and on Quinn's site and other places trying to ID these old Guts. They have Purple wrapper on the silvered strings on both ends. Maybe what looks like a little greenish thread underneath. The plain guts have nothing on them anywhere. They feel lighter in tension than the Labella's. Any guesses?

The local double bass guys are suggesting I try Spirocore's, Supernil's and Labella Black tapewounds. I'm still thinking gut. Pirastro Eudoxa and Olive's perhaps? Or Velvet Garbo's? Overkill with the Baby Bass? Any opinions?

I think labella makes ampeg upright strings...check
http://www.lemurmusic.com

Purple on both ends? If your E&A are flat-wound, they sound like Thomastik Dominants, which are actually perlon-core, designed to emulate gut. Your plain guts could be anything. If you're looking to get a complete new set, Lemur sells 'European Gut' (Efrano) sets for under $200, and Bob Gollihur sells Lenzners for about the same... Pretty affordable, as guts go.

I think labella makes ampeg upright strings...check
http://www.lemurmusic.com
In fact, they offer several DB strings sets in BB lenghts, but not a specific BB strings set.

[Brent Norton]"Purple on both ends? If your E&A are flat-wound, they sound like Thomastik Dominants, which are actually perlon-core, designed to emulate gut."

Could be, but If you mean flat wound like the helicore wrap its more like a roundwound. Pretty thin like small round gage wire. Interesting thought though. Perhaps a synthetic gut may be more usefull in regular giging.

For those of you that might be interested I've installed Spirocore solo strings in orchestra tuning on the Baby at the urging of some Salsa players. They don't have the roundness of tone or the warmth of gut but they are very consistent and punchy sounding. They have super sustain (almost to much) and clear clean note that is very useful and easier to play with than the guts I've used up to now. This is a tone I wasn't really expecting out of the Baby Bass. I have some Eudoxa's waiting in the wings for when I get bored with the Spiros but so far I'm digging the spiros. I've played a handfull of gigs with them and all is well. I've got a wood bridge with the K&K bass max pickup in a wing coming from Azola for more tone options and will post a review of that after I install it.

Ok I know it's a Baby Bass and not a real URB but hey someone may be scanning for this experience so here you go.

Hey, Uncle:

On your Ampeg Baby Bass, did you ever move on from the Spiro Solos tuned down? That's what I've had on for years, playing Salsa.

But now I'd like to try the bass in Western Swing and C&W, so was thinking of a new set or something different. Don't want too much sustain, though, so maybe the 15 year old set is ok. Ever try one of your old Gamut G&D's on the Ampeg?

And did you ever move on to the Azola wood bridge and wing-type pickup?

Thanks.....Lyle

Hey, Uncle:

On your Ampeg Baby Bass, did you ever move on from the Spiro Solos tuned down? That's what I've had on for years, playing Salsa.

But now I'd like to try the bass in Western Swing and C&W, so was thinking of a new set or something different. Don't want too much sustain, though, so maybe the 15 year old set is ok. Ever try one of your old Gamut G&D's on the Ampeg?

And did you ever move on to the Azola wood bridge and wing-type pickup?

Thanks.....LyleI tried that bridge and pickup. Sounded good. I still have it. I felt like if I wanted that sound I'd just use my Regular DB. I just use it for the occasional Latin gig. The DB gets all my country/swing stuff.

The bass still wears Spiro solos, in fact the same set from 2004. It came with a set of good gut tops on it that I still have. I may try them again. I've not tried Gamuts on it yet.