The Smiley Smile Message Board

Jim Marshall who created the Marshall amplifier has died.

(http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-04/69241203.jpg)

His obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-jim-marshall-20120406,0,1105011.story (http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-jim-marshall-20120406,0,1105011.story)

Jim Marshall and Leo Fender were the kings of rock guitar amplifiers, without them the sound of guitars in rock and pop would have been radically different...everyone on this board and everyone who has listened to rock music has heard Jim Marshall's work. Marshall and Fender were the two sides of the coin, like Gibson and Fender, Ford and Chevy, Coke and Pepsi, etc. Both crucial elements of rock music, both creating a product that had brand loyalty and love among its users beyond most anything else outside the world of musicians, and both having a product that defined entire styles of music.

The obituary has the details, I'll just say some of my favorite Marshall tones are obviously Jimi Hendrix (especially his clean Strat-through-Marshall tone), Clapton on the Bluesbreakers album who put a Les Paul through a 45-watt Marshall combo and revolutionized blues tone for many kids in the 60's, Eddie Van Halen especially on that first incredible VH album who used a hot-rodded Marshall head, pushed hard with a Variac and played with a Frankenstein parts guitar to create one of the best rock tones ever (The Brown Sound), Slash and Izzy Stradlin who put Les Pauls through Marshall heads on Appetite For Destruction to re-energize that kind of rock sound with incredible hooks and rhythm work, Angus and Malcolm Young who used their Gibson and Gretsch guitars straight through old Marshalls with little or no effects for some classic riffs, and John Frusciante who had an incredible Hendrix-like clean tone using his old Fenders through old Marshalls for many classic songs. And Pete Townshend was Marshall's inspiration for creating louder and more powerful amps in the 60's. And don't forget Nigel Tufnel...this one goes to 11.

Take just those albums and players and it's like making a list of some of the best rock and roll albums of the past 50 years...that says quite a bit. There is nothing like cranking up a classic Marshall or Fender and bashing out some chords. Damn. :)

It's amazing what guys like him, Les Paul, Leo Fender and many others were doing in that time, and I was genuinely sad when I heard the news. The guys behind rock and roll, and we don't have them any more. RIP.

I don't know if Jim Marshall's contribution to rock music is familiar enough to those outside of the guitar community. Seriously, he and Leo Fender (and not to take anything away from Vox, but I never thought Vox was as driven by one man's vision as Marshall and Fender, therefore I didn't include them though they rightfully belong there) are responsible for what I'd call an overwhelming majority of the signature sounds of rock and roll. Keyboard players and drummers will disagree, and vocalists too perhaps, but what made rock and roll more unique than the sound of an amplified guitar or bass, especially one turned up and distorted through a Marshall or Fender?

What is striking to me too is the longevity of the technology, where Marshall and Fender are almost an anachronism: They belong to a different time, a different era, yet their "old" technology is still highly sought after and used in everyday business by professionals in the music business. If you are a pro and you want a certain sound, you might look for a 1965 Fender Twin or a late 60's "Plexi" Marshall for it...electronics which are pushing the half-century age mark.

Can you imagine doing this in any other field or business where technology is a crucial part of the job?

This is a society that kisses the collective ass of something like the Apple/Mac corporation, where users are kept informed of the latest and greatest new device and told when it will be released so they can line up at a Mac/Apple store the night before to be first in line to buy it. Then after buying that one, sometimes less than a year later Mac comes back at them and says this newest version of *the same device* is the one to have, and the users boldly trek to the Mac store carrying a portable tent, folding lawn chair, warm blanket, and a jug of coffee to wait in line for the opening bell to be struck and the doors to swing open...

...all to buy an "updated" version of the device you bought 9 months ago. :)

Jim Marshall...his amps...the same things that worked in 1968, the same sounds people wanted then and loved then, you can still get them by plugging into a Marshall amp. None of the "version 2.2" crap, none of the waiting in line for an upgrade or two...you do the same thing Hendrix and all those cats did in the 60's and plug into the amp.

Or for convenience, buy an iRig interface for your iPhone, dial up the Marshall simulator (which is pretty cool), and rock out digitally for however long it takes before your iPhone is deemed obsolete and the line starts forming at the Mac store... ;D

RIP Jim Marshall. :)

I mean, those 'lost' guys also include dudes like Les Paul and the other studio heads who were pioneering recording technology - it's something old rock stars can forget. Brian is at least kind enough to namecheck Chuck Britz every opportunity he gets. But who thanks Les Paul or Jim Marshall? The tech is something forgotten by stupid journalists and the like.


Which is all to say, you're 100% right  :)