Electrified guitar was developed so that the guitar
could be heard among the power of the Jazz Big Band.
As popular music developed there was a growing need for more power to be
heard in large venues. The P.A.
systems were just that – for amplifying the human voice and thus for the
singer. The instruments were heard
under their own power except when a horn fronted for a solo.
The Beatles became the most popular band on earth.
Even when playing She Stadium there amplification consisted of their Vox
guitar amplifiers and the stadium’s distributed Public Address system.
It didn’t really matter as the Beatles couldn’t be heard over the
screaming in any venue for some years. While
Vox achieved fame from the Beatles, Fender amps remained the preferred brand in
the US.
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Jim Marshall was a drummer in dance bands at the age of 15. He also had a job in a factory and was an offsider for a milkman. Jim saved his money and on 7th July, 1960 opened a music store in Hanwell (West London). He not only gave drum lessons and sold instruments but began to customise amps and speaker cabinets.
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In late 1962 he developed a design based on Fender’s Bassman. This was in response to guitarist’s demands for a dirtier, more distorted sound and a lower cost alternative to Fender & Vox. Jim Marshall’s JTM45 coupled to a quad box (4 x 12” speakers in a relatively small box) was the start of legend. Typical rigs to date used 2 speakers (Fender Twin) or many smaller ones (Vox – 8 x 8” & original Bassman 4x10”). Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and many others quickly adopted these rigs, and by 1964 Jim had a factory.
The rig was loud but the rest of the band
could match – drummers were always loud, bass players started using the same
gear (tone control treble down and bass up) and Jim Marshall started producing
P.A.s, using the same technology, for the singers.
But the guitarist and bassist of one band found that it still wasn’t
loud enough. The Who were playing
pop concerts where screaming by the audience was mandatory.
They also had a very loud and manic drummer so in late’ 65 John
Entwhistle talked Jim into building a 100 watt amplifier and of course Pete
Townshend wanted one. The speaker
cabinet comprised 8x12” speakers,
soon cut into 2 x 4x12” cabinets. The
Stack was born.
In 1967, Jimi Hendrix and Cream toured the US with their Marshall Stacks. From then on Marshall became de-rigueur for power bands around the world. At the start of the 21st century the Marshall valve sound continues to be a major force in the rock-pop music scene. They remain the choice of most power bands.
Jim Marshall, Born July 29 , 1923
Part 2: Eric Clapton - before Cream
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Graeme Pattingale, 2003