The official Marshall tale is consistent and often-repeated. Half a century is a long time, and the exact details of the development of the guitar amplifier that would become known as the first-ever Marshall are subject to some somewhat differing opinions. These cabinets weren’t built at number 76, Jim reported – there just wasn’t any space – but at his home on Sundays.
Jim Marshall’s first step towards his destiny came by building cabinets containing Goodmans speakers for the only half-suitable standalone valve amps you could get hold of in Britain at the time, first Linear amps, then 25W Leaks. Bass gear in particular was near-unobtainable in the very early ’60s (Bill Wyman, it’s said, gained entrance to the Rolling Stones partly on the strength of him possessing a huge homemade bass cab). This left a huge hole in the development of the UK’s rock scene, and it was a hole that home-grown products such as the Dominator amp, the Bird Golden Eagle and even the lauded Vox AC30 struggled to fill. However, Fender amps just weren’t coming in fast enough, and they were expensive. He saved his money and opened his shop at number 76 in July 1960, first selling just drum kits, then the expensive imported band equipment his customers wanted, such as Gibson 335s, Fender Strats and Fender Tremoluxes. Jim Marshall, who passed away in April 2012, began his career as a danceband drummer and drum tutor.
MARSHALL AMP MODEL NUMBERS SERIES
Just 11 feet wide and 22 feet deep, these tiny premises marked the first step in a journey that would lead to another shop, then a series of workshops and factories, ending with the large, modern facility of today in Bletchley: to several Queen’s Awards For Export, a turnover of goodness knows what and, of course, a worldwide reputation amongst players of all ages for righteous-sounding amplifiers. Back in the early 1960s, number 76 was the shop where the first Marshall-branded amplifier was sold. It wasn’t blue, but black, and it was placed on a site very much connected to the legacy not only of Hendrix but of thousands of other artists as well. In 2012, however, another plaque went up on the wall of 76 Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, west London. They commemorate everything from dramatists to doctors yet, oddly, only two celebrate rock stars one for Beatles John and George at the site of the Apple Boutique, and one at 23 Brook Street in Mayfair, the one-time pad of James Marshall Hendrix. London has no less than 800 blue plaques celebrating the birthplaces or former living quarters of famous men and women. Rob Stockley tells the story of Marshall Amps. The famous Marshall sound was founded upon an amplifier built in a garden shed by a few amateur radio fanatics, and the period until 1968 became the era of the first Marshalls – the classic JTM series. Xylophones, Vibraphones, Marimbas, Glockenspiels
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