diff --git a/nolearn/_compat.py b/nolearn/_compat.py
index a2278eb..1eee0bf 100644
--- a/nolearn/_compat.py
+++ b/nolearn/_compat.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
     import cPickle as pickle
     import __builtin__ as builtins
 
+    basestring = basestring
+
     def chain_exception(exc1, exc2):
         exec("raise exc1, None, sys.exc_info()[2]")
 
@@ -17,6 +19,8 @@ def chain_exception(exc1, exc2):
     import pickle as pickle
     import builtins
 
+    basestring = str
+
     def chain_exception(exc1, exc2):
         exec("raise exc1 from exc2")
 
diff --git a/nolearn/lasagne/base.py b/nolearn/lasagne/base.py
index 3961f49..7c5433b 100644
--- a/nolearn/lasagne/base.py
+++ b/nolearn/lasagne/base.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
+from .._compat import basestring
 from .._compat import chain_exception
 from .._compat import pickle
 from collections import OrderedDict
@@ -550,7 +551,7 @@ def get_all_params_values(self):
     def load_params_from(self, source):
         self.initialize()
 
-        if isinstance(source, str):
+        if isinstance(source, basestring):
             with open(source, 'rb') as f:
                 source = pickle.load(f)