Need info on the history of steel strings, amps in jazz

[Martin Sheridan]

Originally Posted by Aaron Allen

Hey All,
Im writing a paper for school about ways in which technology has affected the way the double bass is played in jazz and could use some help. two of the subjects Im discussing are string construction and use of amplification. I need to know when exactly steel strings came onto the market (i think it was some time during the 50's but a more specific date is what im after) and any info about how jazz players at this time responded to them: did many switch to all steel right away or was it more typical to have steel on the bottom strings but keep the gut on top? Regarding amplification, I know that early players such as Blanton played totally acoustic but what about bassists in the 40's, 50's, and 60's? Was their stage volume acoustic but then they played into a mic that went into some speakers out front or ...? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
-Aaron

When I first started playing, my teacher George Cass, had me set up my bass with Artone guts on the D and G and Lycon steel strings on the E and A. This was in the early 70s, but George was a bassist who had started playing bass in the late 30s and had pretty much backed out of every day giging as a profession by the early 60s, so he was still doing it the old way. Even by the early 70s I think Spirocores had pretty much taken over. George still had an endpin that had an actual microphone in it that set inside the bass cavity.
I don't remember what he used as an amp because I never saw him use one. I went out one night to hear him with the LA guitarist, Johnny Guarneri (?), whom George liked to call "johnny benzedrine, and when I got out of my car I could hear him in the parking lot! He had a hell of a bass. A Jaeger from the 30s.
My first amp was the Ampeg B-15N. Wish I still had that one.