From the humble beginnings of a drum
shop owner and instructor, Jim Marshall is
known today is the Father of Loud for his
incredible contributions to the world of
rock n’ roll and his subsequent solidification
in the pop culture lexicon. Behind many
giants of the six strings you will find his last
name emblazoned in white across walls
of speakers. The Marshall amplifier was
originally conceived when Jim Marshall
thought he could make a cheaper and more
reliable version of the expensive American
amps Fender was making across the pond.
Marshall and his partners started out with
a Fender Bassman circuit, and tweaked it
until they reached what we know today
as the Marshall sound (not surprisingly,
many of the early Marshall amps were
almost identical to the Bassman!) Many
guitarists at the time were not satisfied
with the tonal and volume constraints of
the current offerings of the amp market,
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TONE TALK //
and Jim Marshall’s offering of volume and a
“new sound” very much appealed to them.
That new sound was his very first amp, the
JTM45 (named after Jim and his son, Terry
Marshall). With loads of midrange and a fat,
almost syrupy attack, the Marshall amplifier
reverberated throughout concert halls and
arenas across the world from its inception
in 1963, and arguably drove rock n’ roll
from teeny bopper to full-on testosteronelaced rebellion. (The British Invasion was
driven by Hiwatt and Marshall, their tonal
character is at the heart of some of the
most coveted tones to this date.) Until
this very day, Marshall amps are found on
almost every backline across the world,
still fueling some of the biggest and most
powerful bands across almost every genre.
Users of Marshall amps: Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page,
Rory Gallagher
A People’s Guide to the Gear of the British Invasion