30 Facts About Marshall Amplification

Marshall Amplification is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets, brands personal headphones and earphones, a record label and, having acquired Natal Drums, drums and bongos.

Jim Marshall Amplification wanted someone to produce a cheaper alternative to American-made guitar amplifiers, but as he had limited electrical-engineering experience he enlisted the help of his shop repairman, Ken Bran, a Pan American Airways technician and Dudley Craven, an EMI apprentice.

Marshall Amplification entered into a 15-year distribution deal with British company Rose-Morris during 1965, which gave him the capital to expand his manufacturing operations, though it would prove to be costly.

Marshall Amplification's contract did not prevent him from building amplifiers outside the company, and so Marshall Amplification launched the Park brand name, inspired by the maiden name of Jones's wife.

In 1982, Park came to an end, though Marshall Amplification later revived the brand for some transistor amplifiers made in Asia.

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Clapton asked Jim Marshall Amplification to produce a combo amplifier with tremolo, which would fit in the boot of his car, and one of the most famous Marshall Amplification amps was born, the "Bluesbreaker" amp.

In 1967, Marshall Amplification released a 50-watt version of the 100-watt Superlead known as the 1987 Model.

Ken Bran and Dudley Craven, Marshall Amplification's developers, doubled the number of output valves, added a larger power transformer and an extra output transformer.

Four of these amplifiers were built and delivered to Townshend, and the Marshall Amplification Super Lead Model 1959, the original Plexi, was born in 1965.

At the request of Townshend, Marshall Amplification produced an 8×12-inch cabinet on top of which the 1959 amplifier head was placed, giving rise to the Marshall Amplification stack, an iconic image for rock and roll.

Jim Marshall Amplification expected Hendrix to be "another American wanting something for nothing" but to his surprise, Hendrix offered to buy the amplifiers at retail price if Jim would provide him with support for them around the world.

Jim Marshall Amplification agreed, and several of Hendrix's road crew were trained in the repair and maintenance of the Marshall Amplification amplifiers through the years.

In late 1975, Marshall Amplification introduced the "Master Volume" series with the 100W 2203, followed in 1976 by the 50W 2204.

Marshall Amplification rarely used anything else live, but oddly the Jubilee did not appear on any Guns N' Roses studio albums – instead these feature a modified 1977 JMP mkII on Appetite for Destruction and a modded JCM800 on the subsequent albums.

Marshall Amplification began to see more competition from American amplifier companies such as Mesa Boogie and Soldano.

Marshall Amplification then updated the JCM800 range with additional models and new features such as "channel switching", which meant that players could switch between clean and distorted tones with the push of a foot-operated switch.

Around this time, Marshall Amplification released a few "special edition" amplifiers in this range, including a "Slash Signature" model, a first for the company.

The lead channel featured a switchable gain boost and a mid-range contour switch, which gave it the tone and gain levels, which Marshall Amplification's engineers hoped would keep it competitive in the high-gain world in the early to mid-1990s.

Marshall Amplification currently produces a number of amplifiers, which are a mix of modern designs and vintage reissues.

Marshall Amplification looked towards a new flagship to nail all the compromising of the earlier models, the JVM, made in a variety of models and ranges.

Around the same time as the release of the JVM, Marshall Amplification released an amplifier called the Vintage Modern, which is designed to be much simpler, with a single channel and designed to be controlled more by the player's style and guitar than by channel switching or multiple settings, reminiscent of the vintage "Plexi" and JCM800 range, but with modern conveniences such as foot-switchable dynamic ranges, effects loop and reverb.

In 2001, Marshall Amplification reissued many of its earlier amplifiers, such as the Model 1959-SLP, which is designed to be a reissue of the late-1960s era "Plexi" amplifier, but which are in reality reissues of the post-1973 Super Lead models in that they use printed circuit boards internally to reduce manufacturing cost.

In January 2009, Marshall Amplification released their latest variant of the MG line of practice amplifiers.

Recently, Marshall Amplification has honoured Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead with their first-ever signature bass amplifier head, based on his 100 watt super bass unit "Murder One".

In 2010 Marshall Amplification started a partnership with Zound Industries to make headphones and bluetooth speakers, Zound Industries is most known for its Urbanears headphones and have a similar partnership with Adidas to make audio products for them.

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Marshall Amplification is an important sponsor of sport in the local area.

Marshall Amplification were one of the earliest shirt sponsors for Milton Keynes Dons, they sponsored Milton Keynes Athletic Club as well as Milton Keynes Lions basketball club, before the latter relocated to London.

In 2020, Marshall Amplification Records announced a sub-publishing deal with Sentric Music.

In September 2018, Marshall Amplification announced a naming agreement with Arena MK to use the space for music events.

In 2021, Marshall Amplification opened the doors to a state-of-the-art recording facility at its global HQ in Bletchley, Milton Keynes.