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Company type | Public limited company |
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Industry | Amplification Musical instrument manufacturing |
Founded | London, England (1962 )[1] |
Founder | Jim Marshall |
Headquarters | , England, Sweden |
Area served | United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia, United States |
Owner | Marshall Amplification PLC (1962-2023) The Marshall Group (2023-present)[2] |
Website | Marshall.com |
Marshall Amplification is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers and speaker cabinets. Founded in London by shop owner and drummer Jim Marshall, the company is based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, England.[3] Since March 2023, Marshall Amplification has been one of several divisions of the Swedish conglomerate, the Marshall Group.[2]
The company first began making amplifiers to provide an alternative to expensive, American-made Fender amps, releasing their first model, the Bassman-inspired JTM45, in 1963. Following complaints over limitations in amp volume and tone from visitors to Jim Marshall's drum shop, notably Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who,[4] Marshall began developing louder, 100-watt amplifiers. These early amps were characterized in part by their Plexiglass control plates, leading to models such as the 1959 Super Lead (released in 1965) being popularly known as "Plexis." Their adoption by guitarists like Townshend, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page helped establish the brand's legacy. Further development led to the JCM800 series in 1981, which was widely adopted by the hard rock and metal community, while the brand celebrated its 25 years of making amps by releasing the Silver Jubiliee in 1987. Marshall updated the JCM lineup in the 1990s (JCM900) and 2000s (JCM2000) and developed new amp lines, like the DSL and JVM models.
Many of the current and reissue Marshall amps continue to use valves (tubes) rather than transistors, as is common in this market sector.[5] Marshall Amplification also manufactures solid-state, hybrid (vacuum tube and solid state) and modelling amplifiers.