Jim Marshall: Guitar amp pioneer who earned the epithet 'Father of Loud'

 

In the mid-1960s, the emergence of the powerful Marshall amplifiers enabled musicians to turn up the volume – and effectively transformed pop music into rock.

Marshall became the amplifiers of choice for guitarists as diverse and influential as Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Ramone and The Who's Pete Townshend, whose demands for a louder, more harmonically rich sound contributed to the genesis of the 100-watt model and the 4 x 12 stacks that became de rigueur for rock bands like Status Quo, AC/DC and Van Halen.

Though he founded the company, Jim Marshall always acknowledged the input the engineers Ken Bran and Dudley Craven had into the range of equipment that bore his name. "We went all out to build a lead amp," he said. "I made the chassis, while Ken and Dudley designed and built the circuitry. I had chats with Pete Townshend and the session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. The amplifiers at the time veered more towards jazz or country and western... the guitarists wanted something thicker. Fender was too clean. Listening to what they said imparted in my mind the idea of the Marshall sound. I always call it dirty, but it's really a harmonic distortion."

Built to last and to withstand repeated attacks by Hendrix and Townshend – "they only tore the baffling cloth," stressed Marshall – eulogized in song by Motörhead, and famously lampooned and turned up to 11 in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, Marshall Amplification became one of Britain's most successful music companies.

Born in West London in 1923, Jim Marshall didn't have the easiest start. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bones and spent years in and out of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, to which he made charitable contributions in later life. By the age of 14, he had given up on formal education and passed on the opportunity to work alongside his father in the family's fish and chip shop.

His illness meant that he failed his army medical, but he spent the Second World War working at Ceramic Engineering, and then was a toolmaker at Heston Aircraft. He also started a parallel career as featured singer and then drummer with a big band. "I was making 10 shillings a night," he recalled. "I would ride my bicycle with a trailer behind it to carry my drumkit and the public address cabinets which I had made."

In order to approximate the flamboyant playing style of his idol, the jazz band leader Gene Krupa, he started taking drum lessons and became proficient enough to teach the next generation of London drummers, including Mitch Mitchell, who went on to join the Jimi Hendrix Experience. "I used to teach about 65 pupils a week and, what with playing as well, I was earning somewhere in the region of £5000 a year. That's how I first saved enough money to go into business," said the enterprising Marshall, who opened a music store in Hanwell, West London.

Soon, he was not only selling drumkits, but also building bass cabinets. "The bass guitarists used to complain that they were being out-gunned all the time by the lead guitar... I had the idea of using two 12" speakers with the 50 watt amp head, but it didn't give us the sound we wanted... We kept blowing the speakers," explained Marshall, who had been joined by Bran and Dudley in 1962.

They developed various prototypes and eventually hit on the right combination at the sixth attempt. "We had the idea of putting four 12" speakers into the smallest enclosure we could. There was nothing brilliant about designing the first 4 x 12, it was purely the most convenient size to get into the transport that groups had in those days," he admitted. "I thought that it didn't look very nice with just the amp sitting on top, so I did the angle to match the dimensions of the amplifier and make it look a neater package."

This model proved so popular that by 1964, Marshall had opened his first factory in Hayes. The following year, he signed a distribution agreement with Rose Morris, the instrument suppliers that put Marshall in every major music retailer around the world. Marshall, Bran and Dudley also made the first 100 watt amp for Townshend, who felt he was losing the amplification battle to Who drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle.

The ensuing escalation in feedback and volume earned Marshall the nickname the Father of Loud, especially following the emergence of Hendrix, whose middle name happened to be Marshall. "He was our greatest ambassador," said Marshall.

In 1985, Marshall was invited to add his handprints to the Rock Walk Hall of Fame in Hollywood alongside the instrument pioneers Leo Fender, Robert Moog, Les Paul and Bill Ludwig. He was appointed OBE for his services to music and charity in 2003.

Equipment and instrument manufacturers can be secretive about their products, but Marshall was always happy to show visitors around his factory in Milton Keynes. Asked if his amps had damaged people's hearing, he would reply that those claims were "over-exaggerated. I've met all the top guitarists and they never say: 'Pardon? What did you say?' They always hear what I say."

James Charles Marshall, amplifier manufacturer: born London 29 July 1923; twice married (one son from first marriage, one daughter, one stepson, one stepdaughter from second marriage); died Milton Keynes 5 April 2012.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Top stories
News in pictures
World news in pictures
UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
More stories
       
Independent
Travel Shop
Lake Como and the Bernina Express
Seven nights half-board from £749pp Find out more
Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian coast
Seven nights half-board from only £859pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from only £199pp Find out more
 
Independent Dating
and  

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

iJobs Job Widget
iJobs General

Ambitous PR Account Manager for Top London Agency!

£30000 - £35000 per annum: May & Stephens Recruitment Group: If you're an ambi...

PR Account Director - Top Healthcare Communications Agency

£43000 - £50000 per annum + £5K Car Allowance + Bens : May & Stephens Recrui...

PR Account Executive & Social Media Guru-Top Tech PR Agency!

£18000 - £22000 per annum + Bens : May & Stephens Recruitment Group: If you're...

Telesales Executive

£16000 - £23000 per annum + OTE £23k - £45k: Connex Education: Connex Educatio...

Day In a Page

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

The true effect of the badger cull

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

Steve Tongue

Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

Hannah England: Keeping Track

I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends