this is some information I found. please take a look at the history of ~ ~ ~ speakers. if it weren't for Marshall speakers, Cream and Jimi Hendrix Experience wouldn't have been so good in the late 196s. if Cream and Hendrix weren't so good, heavy metals might not have been born. If there is no heavy metal music in this world, there will be no Guitar World magazine. Then you readers may be learning to play the clarinet now, or trying to train to be a sports star. So each of us owes a big favor to this very enthusiastic and cultured London gentleman-his name is Jim Marshall. Marshall speaker is the greatest monument in the development of rock music. At the same time, it influenced the most influential great guitarists in the history of rock music: Pete Townsend, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Mick Ralphs, Angus Young, Billy Gibbons, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slash, Dave Navarro and Tom Morello, to name just a few. This year (22) is the 4th year of Marshall Amplification. It is a good time for us to make a comprehensive review of Marshall's history. As a 79-year-old man, Jim Marshall still goes to the company headquarters in Milton Keynes, England every day to participate in all company-related operations. "I still get up at 6 o'clock in the morning. I am always the first to enter the company. I don't like to waste time." Jim Marshall entered the show business at the age of 13. He worked as a tap dancer, chorus member, drummer, orchestra leader and drummer instructor. In 196, he opened his first drum shop on the Uxbridge road in Hanwell. However, at the instigation and request of young rock musicians who frequented shops, Marshall also started to do business in other musical instruments, including electric guitars and loudspeakers/speakers. One of these musicians who encouraged him was a guitarist. His name was Pete Townsend. In the following years, he and his band The Who became famous all over Britain, but in 196, Marshall only knew that this young man was the son of Cliff Townsend, an old friend who played saxophone. Marshall recalled that young Pete was always complaining with his friends. "Pete always said,' In the musical instrument store in west London, people there always look down on us because we play rock music. Why don't you sell guitars and speakers in your shop?' I said, "I can only play drums. I don't know anything about guitars and speakers, but I can try." I tried, and I have been successful ever since the word "try" came out. "Many musicians in big orchestras of that era had great prejudice against rock music. But Marshall didn't care about this for a long time. "Mick Waller (later working with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart) was one of the first students to learn drums from me, and he asked me to teach him to play rock drums." "I told him,' Actually, it's easy, because the rhythm is all quarter notes, just like Latin music, but the stress is in different places. But believe me, this popular thing will be forgotten in a few months.' How confused I was? Marshall entered the musical instrument industry at a very suitable time. The Beatles' first album in 1963 opened a chapter in which British rock music conquered the pop music circles in the United States and all over the world. The whole world is watching Britain. But most of the instruments used by British musicians are made in America. The two best-selling musical instruments in Marshall's shop are Gretsch Country Gentleman (a piano that George Harrison likes to use very much) and Fender Tremoulx speakers made almost entirely in America. But this situation will change immediately. In 1962, Jim Marshall hired a repairman, Ken Bran, who used to be a London street band Peppy &; A member of the New York Twisters. Both of them often exchange views with musicians who patronize shops. Among them were Pete Townsend, recording artist Big Jim Sullivan and then pop band Brian Poole &; A member of the Tremoloes. "They came to see me in my shop and said that the speakers available outside were not suitable for the music they were playing." So Marshall decided to try to make his own speakers tailored for rock music at that time. From a purely economic point of view, this idea is also very feasible, because the speakers made in Britain can be sold in Britain at a cheaper price than those imported from the United States. Jim Marshall repaired the circuits on fighter planes during World War II, but he never had experience in audio equipment. "I talked to Ken Bran, and he said,' My technology is not independent enough to make a speaker from nothing. But I know that EMI has a very clever 18-year-old child named Dudley Craven.' I said,' bring him to me and I'll talk to him.' Later I asked the young man,' Would you like to join our team to make the first rock music speaker?' He said,' I'd love to, but I'm working at EMI now.' I asked him,' How much do you earn?' He replied,' Four pounds a week.' I said,' What if I pay you 15 pounds a week, just like Ken?' He readily agreed. It may sound ridiculous now, but 15 pounds was a lot of money then. By September 1962, Bran and Craven had completed the prototype of the first Marshall speaker. That's a 35-watt speaker that imitates Fender Bassman 5F6A. Although the bias voltage of some circuits and dampers and other parts are different because of the lack of restrictions on the electrical parts available at that time. But Marshall still needs to make a Cab for it. Marshall used to make speakers when he was in a band, and he started making them in the garage at home. At first, he planned to add two separate 12-inch speakers according to the design of Bran and Craven. "But the loudspeaker soon blew the horn, because the horn at that time could only bear 25 watts. So I said,' I'll try using four speakers.' But I need to make it as small as possible. Because the transportation at that time depended entirely on minivans. I covered the back cover of the horn box with a hard board because I knew it would sound better that way. "Such an ordinary consideration has evolved into the 4X12 speaker box that we are familiar with now, and it is destined to become a classic in the design of rock speakers. "But when I put the loudspeaker on the speaker box facing directly, it didn't look good at all. It looked too normal. So I made the horn box have a sloping front. " The closed speaker back cover also proves to have a tighter sound quality than its previous open one. Moreover, the circuits made by Bran and Craven also produce unique timbre. The combination of the two produces a tone very different from Fender Bassman, and Marshall's team designed the speaker as the initial reference. A whole new voice was born. Marshall's first speaker was originally called MARK II, but it was finally decided in JTM45. Represents Jim and Terry Marshall, who is Jim's son, plays SAX in a London band and is also a helper in the shop. It goes without saying that his band's equipment is always the best. There are many other London bands to thank Marshall. By the end of 1962, JTM45 had been produced and sold very well. Marshall is always improving and updating his products. By 1964, Marshall began to use KT66 electron tubes, raising the wattage of the speaker from 35 to 45. 1965 was a very important year for Marshall. In terms of business, Jim signed a 15-year sales contract with Rose-Morris, a British company. This contract provided initial capital for his business, but at a price. On the contrary, Marshall believes that this contract with Rose-Morris is the biggest mistake of his life. Rose-Morris doesn't know anything about business. For example, they increased my price by 55%, which is equivalent to directly squeezing our own products out of the world market. This situation lasted for a long time. " The Rose-Morris contract also interrupted Marshall's established sales network, including Jim's old friend Johnny Jones, who sold Marshall's speakers in northern England. In order to compensate his friend, Jim developed the brand of Park. It's basically a Marshall speaker, but the trademark says Park (also the maiden name of Jones' wife Margaret). So Jones can continue to sell Jim's products without violating the Rose-Morris contract. In the later years, Marshall often used the Park brand to try some experimental products and products that Rose-Morris was not interested in. It is also a different brand registered by Marshall according to different business needs. Among them are Big M (for the German market), Kitchen-Marshall (for kitchen musical instrument chain stores in northern England) and NARB (the letters of Ken Bran's surname are spelled backwards). Because these brands are rare and weird, they can always sell at high prices in the speaker collection market.