Jim Marshall, creator of the Marshall amp, dies aged 88

Share this page

Claremonster

Claremonster

Semper Priapus
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Messages
53,080
Reaction score
4,549
Points
113
Location
The Glossalalia School of Business and Performing
Jim Marshall, creator of the Marshall amp, dies aged 88

The man who gave rock one of its key visual and sonic props has died. Jim Marshall, known as "The Father of Loud" for inventing the Marshall amplifier, was 88 years old.

Marshall was a drummer and drum teacher who used his earnings to set up a music shop in west London in 1960. Among his customers were the likes of Ritchie Blackmore and Pete Townshend, and it was through talking to them that Marshall realised there was a gap in the market for a guitar amplifier cheaper than the American-made models popular at the time. When, at Townshend's request, a Marshall 1959 amplifier head was teamed with a cabinet, the "Marshall stack" was born, becoming the defining feature in rock bands' backlines for generations to come.

Virtually every major guitarist has used Marshall amps at one time or another, and giant arrays of Marshall cabs – often suggested to be empty boxes, with no actual amplification purposes – have become key stage props for generations of metal bands, especially.
Click to expand...

:sulk:


spinaltap_eleven.jpg
 
RIP Mr. Marshall, I still play your equipment and love it.
 
wow.....NFL legend and music legend

:coffee:


<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0eBrb00pdGw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Interesting sidenote. I love Marshall amps. I play a little piano and sat in occasionaly as keyboard in a small and highly unsuccessful band (Christo) in the 70's. Never got anywhere. Gave away our services mostly and never got called back. Any way our lead had a couple of Marshall cabs and that's my humble experience. They just sounded unreal.

And I know Cobain was a big Marshall fan. I was lucky to see Nirvana (UNBELIEVABLE) in Boston with Smash Pump in the early early nineties. I didn't really want to go but my 10 (or so) year old daughter talked me into taking her.

So Marshall got me to thinking aboout Kurt and I just looked into it and lo and behold,

Kurt died 18 years ago TODAY. CANNOT BELIEVE IT WAS THAT LONG


So RIP Kurt, as well.


BostonTim
 
Never played through a Marshall myself, but you don't even have to play to appreciate what this guy did for Rock.

You just have to listen.

RIP, Mr. Marshall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top