Marshall Amplification
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Marshall Amplification is a British company which designs and manufactures electric guitar amplifiers. Marshall amplifiers are well known and highly popular among guitarists. The sight and sound of a Marshall stack amp with a Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster is an iconic image in pop-culture.
Like most top-line amplifiers, Marshall Amplifiers still use valve preamp and poweramp stages instead of solid state devices (transistors), although Marshall also manufactures cheaper solid-state or hybrid devices. Valve amplifiers (known as "tube amplifiers" in North America) are generally considered to exhibit a "warmer" tone than that of transistors, particularly when overdriven; instead of abruptly clipping off the signal at cut-off and saturation levels, the signal is smoothly rounded off. Vacuum tubes also exhibit different harmonic effects than transistors (see tube sound for more about the sonic differences between transistors and vacuum tubes). Though technology continues to change, the most sought after, best sounding, and most expensive amps use technology that is considered quite obsolete. The sound of a Marshall 1959SLP or JCM800 amp is among the most recognized in popular music, and there is a constant demand for both cutting edge and vintage amplifiers. They are now considered some of the most expensive amps on the market.
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[edit] History
Jim Marshall first went into business in the early 1960s with a small shop in Hanwell, London, selling drums, cymbals and drum-related accessories. Marshall Ltd later expanded and started selling guitars and amplifiers, the most notable of which at the time were the Fender amplifiers imported from America. These were very popular with guitarists and bass players, but also very expensive, and Jim Marshall thought he could produce an equivalent product for less money. He enlisted the help of Ken Bran, and between them they decided they most liked the sound of the 4x10 Fender Bassman. Not wishing to fix something clearly not broken, they set about making copies of this amplifier. The first few production units were almost exactly the same as the Bassman, with US-origin transformers and military surplus 5881 power valves. The first difference was the cabinet used, as Marshall decided to build separate amplifiers and speaker cabinets, and as they were originally intended as bass amplifiers, Marshall chose to use four 12 inch Celestion speakers in a closed back cabinet, instead of the Bassman's four 10 inch Jensen speakers in an open back cabinet. This new amplifier was named the JTM45 after Jim and his son Terry, and 45 as in theory it produced 45W of power.
In search of lower production costs, Marshall quickly started sourcing parts from the UK. This led to the use of Dagnall and Drake made transformers and a switch to the Marconi-Osram Valve Company’s KT66 valve. This gave the Marshall amplifiers a more aggressive voice which quickly found favour with players, most notably a young Eric Clapton who would sit in Jim's shop practicing his playing. When Clapton was invited to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, he asked Jim Marshall to produce a combo amp with tremolo which would fit in the boot of his car, and the most famous Marshall amp was born, the so called "Bluesbreaker" amp. This is the amplifier that gave Clapton that famous tone on the Bluesbreaker's "Beano" album, and is one of the most sought after tones by guitarists’ world wide.
Other early customers included Pete Townshend and John Entwistle of The Who, whose search for extra volume led Marshall to design the classic 100 watt valve amplifier. After the creation of the full stack, the competition for volume between the two drove Pete to request an amplifier with more power from Jim. Jim Marshall was at this time employing Dudley Craven to build the amplifiers, who doubled the number of output valves used, along with using a larger power transformer and an extra output transformer. Around four of these amplifiers were built and delivered to Pete Townshend, and then the design was updated to form the now recognized SLP100 amplifier.
At this time, the KT66 valve was becoming more expensive as the MOV Company faced greater competition from Mullard, so another valve change was made with Marshall starting to use European made Mullard EL34 power amp valves. These have a different overdrive character to the KT66, which gave Marshalls a more aggressive voice still. In 1966, Marshall's most famous customer made his first appearance in England, and quickly found himself in Jim's shop. A young James Marshall Hendrix was in Jim's shop with his manager, Chas Chandler, trying the amplifiers and guitars. Jim Marshall was suspicious of Hendrix at first, expecting him to be "another American wanting something for nothing" but to his surprise, Hendrix offered to buy the amplifiers outright, if Jim would provide him with support for them around the world. Jim Marshall agreed, and several of Hendrix's road crew was trained in the repair and maintenance of the Marshall amps through the years.
The amplifiers from this era, are easily identifiable by their acrylic glass front panel which earned them the nickname, "Plexis", and now have significant collectors' value and command very high prices. Amplifiers from the 1970s onwards can be distinguished most easily by their brushed metal front panel, and are known as "ali panel" Marshalls. The circuitry did not change, merely the cosmetics.
In the mid-1970s, Marshall introduced the "master volume" series. This was in response to the demand for yet more distortion from Marshalls, and many techs had been hot rodding the amps for years by connecting the two input stages in series rather than parallel as in the original Marshalls. A master volume was introduced to make the volume levels more manageable. This gave the new breed of Marshalls a different voice, more cutting and edgy, which found favour with players such as Zakk Wylde, Tony Iommi and Slash. As time moved on and amps such as Mesa Boogies and Soldanos came into preference, Marshall updated its product line again with the JCM900 series. Reviewed by Guitarist magazine in the UK and given the line, "Shredders, here is an amp you won't need to have modified," this move by Marshall was again an outgrowth of musicians' desires.
In 2004, Marshall started selling hand-wired amplifiers based on models built in the 1960s, including the 1974x 20-watt combo, 20-watt head and cabinet, and 100-watt Super Lead, all of which are faithful recreations of the originals.
Marshall's recent Valvestate amplifiers are seen as revolutionary as they contain a hybrid of valve and solid state technology. Currently named the "AVT series", there are a huge number of different models, all of which are cheaper than their all-valve counterparts. Many guitar magazines gave the technology well received reviews due to its great tonality yet low price. The single valve featured in the valvstate amps can last from two to three years with standard use.
[edit] Marshall Stack
The classic Marshall Stack is one of the defining images behind loud rock music. A full stack consists of one head containing the actual amplifier on top of two stacked 4x12s, which are loudspeaker cabinets each containing four 12 inch loudspeakers arranged in a square layout. The top cabinet has the top two loudspeakers angled slightly upwards, giving the Marshall stack a distinctive appearance. When a single cabinet is used, the complete unit is called a half stack.
In the early-mid 1960s, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle of The Who were directly responsible for the creation and widespread use of stacked Marshall cabinets. Pete later remarked that John started using Marshall Stacks in order to hear himself over Keith Moon's drums and Townshend himself also had to use them just to be heard over John. In fact, the very first 100 watt Marshall Amps were created specifically for Entwistle and Townshend when they were looking to replace some equipment that had been stolen from them. They approached Jim Marshall asking if it would be possible for him to make their new rigs more powerful than those they had lost, to which they were told that the cabinets would have to double in size. They agreed and six rigs of this prototype were manufactured, of which two each were given to Townshend and Entwistle and one each to Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott of The Small Faces. These new "double" cabinets proved too heavy and awkward to be transported practically, so The Who returned to Marshall asking if they could be cut in half and stacked, and although the double cabinets were left intact, the existing single cabinet models were modified for stacking, which has become the norm for years to follow.[1]
Entwistle and Townshend both continued expanding and experimenting with their rigs, until (at a time when most bands still used 50–100w amps with single cabinets) they were both using twin Stacks, with each Stack powered by new experimental prototype 200w amps, each connected to the guitar via a "Y splitter". This, in turn, also had a strong influence on the band's contemporaries at the time, with Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience both following suit. However, due to the cost of transport, The Who could not afford to take their full rigs with them for their earliest overseas tours, thus Cream and Hendrix were the first to be seen to use this setup on a wide scale, particularly in America. Ironically, although The Who pioneered and directly contributed to the development of the "classic" Marshall sound and setup with their equipment being built/tweaked to their personal specifications, they would only use Marshalls for a couple of years before moving on to using Sound City equipment. Cream and particularly Hendrix would be widely ( and incorrectly ) credited with the invention of Marshall Stacks.[1]
The search for volume was taken on its next logical step with the advent of "daisy chaining" two or more amplifiers together. As most amplifier channels have two inputs, the guitar signal being present on both sockets, the cunning musician hooked the spare input of one channel to an input on another amp. By 1969 Hendrix was daisy chaining four Stacks, incorporating both Marshall and Sound City amplifiers, as recommended to him by Townshend.[2]
This competition for greater volume and greater extremes was taken even further in the early 1970s by the band Blue Öyster Cult, who used an entire wall of full-stack Marshall Amplifiers as their backdrop. Bands such as Slayer and Yngwie Malmsteen also use walls of Marshalls. Both Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman can be seen playing in front of a total of 24 cabinets, and Yngwie has used as many as 31. In most cases these are "dummy Cabs", which are onstage for visual effect and not actually used. For ease of transportation and lifting, most of these actually do not even contain any speakers. It is usually the case that maybe only 2 or 4 cabs are actually powered, as using this many could cause serious problems with the overall mix of a live show. The same goes for most of the amp heads in a scenario like this, as they are just the wooden frame with, in fact, no heavy inner workings.
Such is the ubiquity of the sight of a wall of Marshalls at a rock concert; many artists who do not even use them have the dummy stacks on stage. Rick Parfitt of Status Quo, for example has a wall of Marshalls, but actually uses a combination of Vox AC-30 in Marshall cabinets and JCM900's.
Marshall also produces 'combo' amplifiers which combine speaker and amp in one case and several variations of the classic stack design including a Marshall micro stack and a mini stack, the latter of which is about 10 inches high and runs on batteries.
[edit] JVM series Amplifiers
Recently Marshall has released a new flagship line of UK built amplifiers. After what many considered a "slump" period, Marshall finally came out with a new comprehensive range of amplifiers that has caught the guitar world's attention. Guitarist Magazine UK has already claimed that it would be the "hottest" amp line for 2007 they also hailed it as "The Ultimate Marshall".
JVM is an acronym for Jim Victoria Marshall, Victoria being his daughter and current managing director of Marshall Amplification. The series so far features the JVM410H a 100 watt head and the JVM410C a two by twelve inch speaker combo. The JVM410H head has been designed to drive Marshall's standard 1960A/B extension cabinets, the JVM410C combo however, houses two different speakers, a Celestion Vintage 30 and a complimenting Celestion Heritage speaker. They are the quietest (noise-wise) Marshall to date and are capable of producing more headroom and higher gain levels than any previous model.
There are four channels on the amplifier each with its own set of tone, gain, volume and reverb controls. Each channel also has three different gain settings, by pressing the channel selection button repeatedly the amplifier will change from green to orange to red while increasing the gain of the channel, this effectively gives 12 independently voiced modes. The four independent channels are Clean, Crunch, OD1 and OD2. OD2, with its middle control centered around 500Hz, is a modern aggressive super hi-gain channel which has been voiced for leads as well as modern metal. OD1 is similar to OD2 except with a traditional Marshall voicing with its middle control centered around 650Hz. While OD1 and OD2 are voice specifically for high-gain, the Crunch has been voiced to produce classic vintage Marshall tones that range from a Plexi 1959, a JCM800 2203, to a hot-rodded 2203. Clean when in the green mode, disables the use of the gain knob and changes the configuration of the signal path to achieve maximum headroom.
The master control section of the amplifier features two master volumes, a presence, and a resonance control. There are two FX loops on the amplifier with one of them incorporates a mix control and is also footswitchable. A new feature for any guitar amplifier is the ability to program the foot pedal to any of the front panel switches on the amplifier (except the midi/ftsw program button) or to store complete channel settings into one button this allows complete flexibility for any guitar player, the lead connecting the footswitch is also a standard speaker lead. The unit is also midi controller able and has a silent recording mode.
The JVM uses four EL34 power valves in a push pull configuration. The preamp utilizes five ECC83 preamp valves and offers a pure valve signal path even the reverb drive and recover circuit is valve driven, a single mosfet has been used in the resonance circuit.
[edit] Vintage Modern Series
The Vintage Modern series of amplifiers are a brand new range of amplifiers for 2007. They are an all valve amplifier that in aimed at the guitarist who likes to primarily control their sound from playing dynamics and their instruments volume and tone controls. These amplifiers have 100% mid 60’s to early 70’s vintage blues rock tone with the ability to switch to a hot rod mode to find the ‘modded’ tones of the harder rock bands of that era.
There are three models in the range that consist of the 2466 100W head, the 2266 50W head and the 2266C 2x12” combo. All three models are all-valve with a choice of two ‘Dynamic ranges’ that are selectable via a footswitch. The low range equates to a stock vintage Marshall in terms of gain and tone, the high channel adds one extra gain stage to accommodate classic hard rock tones of the seventies. The units also have a ‘Mid Boost’ function that fattens the tone even more. A series effects loop is also incorporated on the unit this has a loop level attenuator of +4dB and -10dB, there is also the option to bypass the effects loop completely with the addition of a ‘Bypass’ button. There is also a digital ‘plate’ reverb that has a mix control and is also selectable via the footswitch.
The 2466 uses a quad of KT66 power valves while the 2266 uses a pair, these are reminiscent of the earliest Marshall amplifiers. The power supply and output stage has been taken directly from plexi amplifiers of the 1966 to 1968 era. The KT66 yields a much fatter and smoother tone than the EL34 and are inherently less aggressive in the treble region, the sound is instantly recognisable as earl classic Marshall tone.
The 2266C uses two Celestion G12C 25 watt greenback speakers while two extension cabinets are available for the heads a 425A (angled) and 425B (base) cabinets. The two extension cabinets incorporate four Celestion G12C 25 watt speakers that were specifically developed for the limited edition Jimi Hendrix Super100JH stack in 2006.
[edit] JCM 2000 Series Amplifiers
Marshall's old Flagship, the JCM 2000 series of amplifiers, were started in the late 90's to replace the ageing "JCM 900" amplifiers in order for Marshall to regain control over the amplifier market. The first two models launched were the DSL 50 and 100 amplifier heads (50 for 50 watts (powered by 2 EL34 power tubes), and 100 for 100 watts (powered by 4 EL34 power tubes)), and included an FX Loop and reverb units. The reason for the huge success of these amplifiers was the fact that they arguably combined versatility, affordability, and 100% all tube tone into one package. Although many artists thrived on these amplifiers, others complained that Marshall sacrificed "quality for versatility."
Also known as "dual super lead," these variations of the JCM 2000 family featured two foot-switchable channels. The "classic channel" lets users switch between a clean mode and a crunchy distorted mode. The "ultra channel" features two different distorted modes that the user can choose from. The modes are not footswitchable, only the channels. These amps also feature a serial FX Loop (signal goes through the FX loop back to the amp) as well as a reverb. Marshall is currently producing the DSL 50 and DSL 100, both EL34 powered units, and the DSL 401 Combo, which is a 1x12" combo powered by 4 EL84 tubes.
Also known as "triple super lead," the TSL is extremely similar to the DSL amps with the exception of one added channel. The three channels are "clean”, "crunch," and "lead." The differences between the TSL and DSL series is the DSL series can switch between 2 modes, per each channel (2), where the TSL has 3 separate channels. The TSL also offers two parallel FX loops (the signal is split, where a percentage (user adjustable) goes to through the FX Loop, and the remaining goes directly to the power section and mixed in with the return from the loop, as well as reverb. Marshall is currently producing the TSL 60, which as three channels with the crunch and lead sharing an EQ, also available in a 1x12 (TSL 601), and 2x12 (TSL 602) combo, as well as, the TSL 100, which has three separate channels each with its own EQ, also available as a 2x12 combo (TSL 122). All are powered with EL34 tubes.
All of the JCM 2000 amplifiers also include "tone" and "deep" switches which each affect the texture of the amp's output, with the exception being the DSL 401.
[edit] Vintage Series Amplifiers
Marshall periodically will discontinue a model of amplifier, and reissue it later. In 2001 Marshall reissued many of their former amplifiers of yesterday. Currently, there is the '1959-SLP' (AKA "Plexi"), the '1987x'(50w version of the 100w 1959SLP), the 'JCM800' 2203, the 'JCM900' 4100, the 'JTM45' 2245, and the '1962' combo (AKA Blues Breaker).
[edit] Hand-Wired Series Amplifiers
Marshall has also recently introduced a handful of hand-wired amplifiers, using old-fashioned manufacturing techniques referred to as "turret boards" - these have small metal stakes that the components and leads are soldered to, versus PCB, where the components are mounted to the board, leads placed through the board, and soldered in place. The amps are re-issues of the "100W" 1959HW, "20w" 2061x, and the other amp in a combo form, the 1974x at 18w. The combo has a valve driven tremolo. The cabinet marketed as the match to the head version, as well as the combo, use a Celestion re-issued "55hz" version of the popular 'greenback' speaker, which Celestion has made available under the "Heritage" series. These amps are based on the "plexi" preamp, utilizing 2 12ax7 preamp tubes (3 for the combo, due to the tremelo), with a simplified lower-loss tone-stack, and a pair of EL84 power tubes as well as a EZ81 rectifier.
[edit] AVT Series Amplifiers
This line of amps are a "hybrid" featuring a 12AX7 preamp tube employed in the preamp ("to warm up the signal") as well as solid state components, with a solid-state power amp. These are considered and marketed as intermediate-level equipment.
[edit] MG Series Amplifiers
These are solid state amplifiers (non-tube as with other Marshalls, except the AVT hybrid), and are marketed as beginner amps or as practice amps. The MG series are designed to cater for beginner to intermediate players, and offers a lot of features comparable to the competition. Though still offering the signature Marshall Sound, it is not of the same "quality" of sound as Marshall's Tube-Powered lines, however they offer the young guitarist their first step onto the Marshall ladder at very little cost.
[edit] Marshall Bass Series
Although Marshall Amplification is well know for its guitar amplifiers and speaker cabinets it is not as well know for producing Bass amplifiers. However, Marshall’s currently manufacture one of the best professional all valve Bass rigs on the market the VBA400.
The VBA400 houses no less than 8 x 6550 power valves plus 3 x ECC83 and 1 x ECC82 preamp valves. The controls have been kept to a minimum and consist of a 3-band passive EQ network for Bass, Middle and Treble which can be totally reconfigured by the means of a 3-position contour switch. Further tone control is provided by Deep and Bright switches. Obviously the input accommodates both Active and Passive bass pickups, there is also an XLR DI Output for recording complete with Earth lift and Pre/Post EQ switches. Finally there is also a series FX loop, a tuner mute and a speed control for the fan that cools the power valves.
There are two extension cabinets available for the VBA, a 4x12” and an 8x10”. These cabinets have separate sealed chambers inside to prevent unwanted cabinet resonance and also add structural integrity. Both cabinets are loaded with custom design loudspeakers and give a total impedance of 4 ohms, the amplifier will drive loads of 2 ohms.
Other Bass equipment currently available is the new MB range of amplifiers. The range consists of the MB15 (15 watt combo), MB30 (30 watt combo), MB60 (60 watt combo), MB150C (150 watt combo), MB4210C (450 watt 2x10” combo), MB4410 (450 watt 4x10” combo), MB450H (450 watt head) and three extension cabinets the MBC115 (1x15”), MBC410 (4x10”) and the MBC810 (8x10”). These units are mostly solid state but have a single ECC83 preamp valve incorporated into the preamp.
[edit] Trivia
- Marshall is based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. It is currently the shirt sponsor of Milton Keynes Dons F.C. and sponsors Marshal Milton Keynes Athletic Club as well as Marshall Milton Keynes Lions basketball Club.[3]
- The spoof 'rockumentary' This is Spinal Tap features a modified Marshall amplifier with panels specially prepared by Marshall with a volume dial that went up to 11.
- With the introduction of the JCM900 series, Marshall numbered the Lead Gain Control up to 20. Posters were produced featuring Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel pointing to the control saying "Now it goes up to 20. That's like, louder, innit".[4]
- Some guitarists, including Motörhead, modify the "Marshall" logo on the front of Marshall Amplifiers to read "Moshall," "Marsha," "Mars," or "Al." Lars Frederiksen of Rancid altered his to read "Lars". One of the guitarists for Southern Hardcore band Maylene and the Sons of Disaster rotated and removed letters on his amplifier in order to spell "War yall."[citation needed] On Nirvana's Bleach tour, they rearranged the logo to "Mash all".
- The letters JTM and JCM derive from the initials of Jim and Terry (his son) and James Charles (Jim's Christian names); JMP stands for Jim Marshall Products.
- Pure Digital a maker of DAB Digital Audio Broadcasting radios made in the image of a Marshall amp the PURE DIGITAL EVOKE-1XT MARSHALL EDITION DAB DIGITAL RADIO.
