Cheap Guitar Amps

Marshall Guitar Amplifier

The distinctive sound of the Marshall Guitar Amplifier -- We've all heard it. We'll all remember it. But once upon a time, it didn't exist, and came into being almost by accident.

Jimi Hendrix Complains

I first heard the distinctive sound of a Marshall guitar amplifier out on the greensward in the middle of nowhere at the Duke of Bedford's place in England, when Jimi Hendrix stepped onto the stage and introduced his amplifiers. He was complaining, because he'd come from Spain, and he said that British Customs tore the huge Marshall stacks apart, "looking for little white pills."

Heh, heh, heh. Those were strange times. As it happened, Jimi later played a gig in L.A. -- and my roommate and I went to hear him -- but we'd already seen him, and even talked with him, because Jimi was staying in the Beverly Rodeo Hotel in Beverly Hills, where my roommate was a bellboy and I was the night auditor.

But Jimi only figures into this story a tiny bit, because this is about Jim Marshall, a sickly child growing up in England who left school early, and wanted nothing to do with his father's fish and chips shop, so young Jim worked all kinds of jobs, mostly hard and low-pay jobs.

But you can't keep a brilliant mind down, and he was thirsty for knowledge. He studied engineering books, on his own. A world war came up, and he flunked the army physical because of his illness, so he worked as a toolmaker for aircraft through the war, and occupied his spare time performing in a tap-dancing group, which led to singing for the group, which caused a band leader to invite him to audition for the band.

The Flaky Drummer

Then, when the drummer flaked out one day in 1942, young Jim picked up the sticks, and did fairly well, trying to emulate Gene Krupa, perhaps the most famous drummer of that time. And that led him to begin taking drumming lessons, and he mastered them, so he started teaching drumming to students of his own. A lot of students of his own, as many as 65 in a week, including Mitch Mitchell (later of the Jimi Hendrix Experience).

Hanging out with the drummers led him to hang out with guitar players, and he began to employ his engineering skills in his garage, beginning to build amplifiers as well, in his spare time. Because he taught so many drummers, he began to buy and resell drum kits, and finally realized he might as well buy wholesale and sell in his own drum shop, and so it was that in that drum shop Pete Townsend one day asked, "Why don't you sell guitars and amplifiers, too?"

So he did, hiring a friend from the war years to help with repairs and such, and then one day the friend suggested that, instead of buying and reselling amplifiers, why didn't they just make their own? They had the skills. They had the parts. They had the working space. They had the customers. Why not?

A Different Sound

And right there, something interesting happened. Townsend and other guitarists, just in early days of what was to become the British Invasion, requested a different sound, because, they said, Fender Amps just sounded too clean.

Thus it was that Marshall Amplifiers, from the beginning, gave the guitarists what they wanted. And that was a much more aggressive sound, plus power, power, power! Townsend it was also who requested a double-sized 8-speaker cabinet. Jim warned him that it would be awfully heavy, but they built it.

In a week or so, Townsend was back. Jim was right. The roadies couldn't manage it. It was too heavy, man. Townsend wanted Jim to cut it in half. Instead, Marshall just made two 4-speaker cabinets, topped with the amplifer head.

The Marshall stack was born.

Business as Unusual

At first, these Marshall Amplifiers were simply sold to the customers of Jim's little shop, though the manufacturing part grew and grew.

He began supplying amps to other retailers around the country. And finally he elected to sign an agreement with a major distributor called Rose-Morris. This turned out to be a botched deal in some ways, for the next fifteen years.

For one thing, several of Jim's steady resellers were left out in the cold by the exclusive distribution agreement with Rose-Morris. But there was a proviso in the agreement that Jim could provide amps to those dealers, as long as a different brand name was used. Thus came Park Amplifiers, named after the wife of Jim's most loyal reseller for the years before. Other names were used as well.

But this backfired in a way, because as the Marshall Ampplification reputation (and pricing) soared, musicians in general made no connection between Marshall guitar amplifiers and the Park amplifiers, and so the Park brand languised behind in sales and profitability.

According to Jim Marshall, Rose-Morris didn't have much of a clue about guitar amps as a product, and consequently their move to add 55% markup to all exported amps essentially killed sales in other countries for many years.

Rock and Roll Heroes

However, the adoption of his amps by noteworthy musicians took over the stages and the charts. Eric Clapton made the Bluesbreaker combo amp popular on the wildly popular Bluesbreaker album. Mitch Mitchell, who'd once worked in Jim's drum shop until Jim taught him to play the drums, hooked up with James Marshall Hendrix, then known as "Jimmy James and the Fabulous Flames" from the USA.

Hendrix, with his new psychedilic sound, wah pedal, and now his multiple Marshall stacks, became the rage in England, and returned to the USA as Jimi Hendrix, and changed the face of rock and roll. Townsend and the Who, although they were actually the ones who first introduced Marshall amplifiers to the public, couldn't initially afford to ship them to the States tours, and so most people have the impression that Clapton and Hendrix were the popularizers.

Maybe they were.

Primary Amplifier Models

Original production amplifiers around 1962 had a smooth black covering and white grill cloth with brushed aluminum panels, and like nearly all Marshall Amplifiers are tube amps (or as the British call them, "valve" amps).

Around 1963, dual speaker outputs were added, new black knobs, and cabinets built with an angled face, so they didn't look so blocky.

Serial numbers and tube types changed in 1964, speakers too, and the first combo amps were made.

The famous gold plexiglass panels -- which gave birth to the slang nickname "Plexi's" for these amps. The first 100 Watt amps appeared (Pete Townsend again). The stack was born as an adaptation to permit an 8-speaker array.

Where to Find a Marshall Guitar Amplifier at a Great Price?

Online Discount Music Stores

We've often heard these online stores reported as having great deals --

Your Local Music Store

Big chain stores like Guitar Center sometimes run sales. Be sure you know your amp, and audition it before buying. But remember, many smaller guitar stores, in order to get your business, will match online-discount pricing, and smaller guitar stores can often provide you superior customer service.

Amazon

Sometimes great values, sometimes not, depending upon the seller.

EBay

Frequently the price-value winner, especially if you’re willing to buy used. It’s hard to beat EBay. Just look at this huge selection of best-value guitar amps, instruments, and amp effects available right now –