Marshall Amplification
From 1960, Marshall owned a moderately successful music store in Hanwell, west London, selling drums and then branching out into guitars. His many guitar playing customers (including Ritchie Blackmore, Big Jim Sullivan and Pete Townshend) spoke of the need for a particular kind of amplifier, with Townshend wanting something "bigger and louder", and Marshall saw the opportunity. He recruited an 18-year-old electronics apprentice, Dudley Craven, who was previously working for EMI and, with his help, began producing prototype amplifiers, resulting in the foundation of Marshall Amplification, in 1962. It took Marshall six attempts to create an amp he was happy with, creating what later became known as "the Marshall sound" that revolutionized music. As the company grew, Marshall expanded his products, and unveiled the Master Volume Marshall amps and the classic JCM800 split channel amps. Soon after he started production, musicians including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were using his equipment. The "Marshall stack", a wall of black, vinyl-clad cabinets, one atop the other, was seen as the physical embodiment of rock's power, majesty and excess. A Marshall features in the famous amp scene in the mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap, with guitarist Nigel Tuffnel claiming his Marshall's volume knob went "one louder" to a unique setting of 11 on the dial. In response, Marshall set about producing models that could be cranked up to 20.
Read more about this topic: Jim Marshall (businessman)
Famous quotes containing the word marshall:
“The very presence of guilt, let alone its tenacity, implies imbalance: Something, we suspect, is getting more of our energy than warrants, at the expense of something else, we suspect, that deserves more of our energy than we’re giving.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)