DEALING IN VOLUME: Legendary Marshall amplifier landed tiny English town on rock 'n' roll roadmap

BLETCHLEY, England - When the history of rock 'n' roll is written, a chapter will be devoted to a factory in a bland industrial park in the otherwise forgotten town of Bletchley. <br>This is where

Tuesday, February 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BLETCHLEY, England - When the history of rock 'n' roll is written, a chapter will be devoted to a factory in a bland industrial park in the otherwise forgotten town of Bletchley.
This is where the Marshall amplifier is made.

Hated by the neighbors of untalented teenagers, prized by garage band strummers and treasured by guitar heroes such as Jimi Hendrix since the 1960s, the Marshall amp is like rock itself - powerful, distorted and at times unbearably loud.

The roster of Marshall amp aficionados reads like a Who's Who of rock.

In addition to Mr. Hendrix, masters such as Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, Slash, Eddie Van Halen and many others have relied on Marshall at various points in their careers.

"The classic Marshall sound is inextricably linked to rock guitar," said Mick Taylor, deputy editor of Guitarist magazine. "Marshall amps use tried and trusted designs that defined, and have continually delivered great dependable guitar tones. Marshall invented the amplifier stack in the '60s that is still prevalent today."
He said it would be almost impossible to find a prominent rock guitarist who had not relied on Marshall amps to make his point.

A simple idea

This simple idea - an amp tailored to the chaotic sound of rock - has made a wealthy man of Jim Marshall. He was a drum teacher with no background in electronics when he got the urge to develop his own amplifier in 1962, just before the Beatles and Rolling Stones launched the "British invasion" that revitalized the popular music scene.

Today, he must be one of the few 76-year-old men in the world willing to hop a plane and travel abroad to catch an Iron Maiden concert.
His only other vices are Cuban Montecristo cigars - they are legal in England, after all - and a single-malt Scotch whisky from the Loch Lomond distillery that is specially bottled for him and comes with a label bearing his company name and his picture.

These are affordable luxuries for a man who has spurned offers of more than $165 million for his company, which produces midrange and high-end amplifiers in England and lower-range amps in Korea, China and India.
Mr. Marshall, who still keeps a drum kit in his office, got the notion for a rock-oriented amplifier in 1962 when a number of young guitarists in his circle of friends complained that the amps on the market were inadequate for rock 'n' roll.

When bad was better

The problem was clear: The amplifiers of the day were too good. The sound was too fine and too sterile for the raucous, frenzied roar sought by the maverick guitarists, including the young Mr. Townshend, soon to gain international fame with The Who.

So Mr. Marshall set out to build something not quite as accurate. Something fuzzy and raw. Handicapped by his lack of electronic knowledge, he enlisted the aid of 18-year-old Dudley Craven, a would-be sound engineer who was then an apprentice earning $7 a week.

"Fender was a very reliable amp, but they said it was too clean, that it was OK for jazz or country and Western but not for rock," said Mr. Marshall, who is still fit and energetic despite heart surgery several years ago to treat a life-threatening aneurysm. "They described the sound they wanted, and I had it in my mind when I started."

With the help of a few other enthusiasts, including Ken Bran - from the Peppy and the New York Twisters band - they came up with the first Marshall amp, model 2245.
It looked basic - a black box with a speaker inside and amp controls on top - but it offered rock guitarists a signature sound. To say it caught on would be an understatement. By the late '60s, every rock guitarist fantasized about playing before a packed house through a stack of Marshall amplifiers.

The amplifiers played an important role in the stage show developed by The Who. The band's guitarist, Mr. Townshend, would go berserk at the end of each show, smashing his guitar into stacks of Marshall amps in a seeming orgy of destruction.

But Mr. Marshall said much of this was illusion. Mr. Townshend only tore the speaker cloth - never the expensive speakers - and the amps were easily repaired in the Marshall workroom. The same was true of the guitars that Mr. Townshend smashed. They were designed to be broken and reused dozens of times.

"His father and I discussed it, and we both thought Pete had gone stark-raving mad," Mr. Marshall said. "We both thought something had gone wrong with the kid. But Pete was very clever; he knew what he was doing. It was a new form of showmanship."

The Hendrix influence

The next big break came with the rise of Mr. Hendrix. The Marshall brand received a tremendous boost when Mr. Hendrix soared to the heights of rock fame with a series of ultra-loud rock shows played through linked stacks of Marshall amplifiers.

Mr. Marshall met the future rock legend when Mr. Hendrix came to the Marshall showroom in London shortly before he released his first album, Are You Experienced.

At the time, Mr. Hendrix was a little-known guitarist who had backed up a number of American soul stars. He was putting his band together and dreaming of better days. "This tall black American came in the store with his drummer, Mitch Mitchell - who I had taught - and the first words out of Hendrix's mouth were, 'I'm going to be the greatest, man,' " Mr. Marshall said. "I thought he was just another American chap wanting things for free, but in the next breath he said he would pay for everything and that he wanted four complete stage setups so that he could play anywhere in the world without having to transport them too far."

When Mr. Hendrix became a star, the Marshall amplifier became associated with the guitarist's unique sound. Its status as the amplifier-of-choice was sealed for generations to come.

"He was our greatest ambassador, without a doubt," said Mr. Marshall, who remembers the late Mr. Hendrix as the finest guitarist ever.

Continued growth

In the years since then, the reputation of the Marshall amp has never been seriously challenged, and worldwide sales have continued to grow, particularly in the United States, where demand last month reached record highs.

The company is trying to market amplifiers in China, thus far without noticeable success. But hopes are high, said production director Kelvin Hack. "It's going to be massive when Western music catches on there," he said.

After years of growth, Mr. Marshall today employs 250 workers in Bletchley to produce the company's mid-range and upper-end amps, while lower priced products are made in factories in Korea, India and China.
Just as Paul McCartney and Elton John have been knighted - try to say "Sir Paul" and "Sir Elton" without giggling - respectability has crept into Mr. Marshall's life as well.

The former drummer has been cited several times by Queen Elizabeth II for his success at exporting British goods, and his charitable activities were recognized by the late Princess Diana at several gala events.

After years of growth, Mr. Marshall today employs 250 workers in Bletchley. He has vowed to keep most of his production in England, despite high taxes, wages and overhead, because of the quality materials and workmanship to be found here.

Many parts of the amplifiers are still assembled by hand, and a key position is held by a young quality controller - she wears a ring through her nose - who listens to each amplifier as it comes off the production line.
Her job is simple. She cranks each amp to top volume and listens carefully. If the sound is too good, she rejects it