Jim Marshall

P

paradiddle pete

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Is it true that Jim Marshall inventor of the Marshall Amp was a jazz drummer?
 
Yep, and according to wikipedia one of his students was John Bonham, among other huge names.

"To become more proficient on the drums and to better emulate his idol, Gene Krupa, from 1946–48 Marshall took weekly lessons from Max Abrams. In the 1950s, Marshall became part of the English music scene and started teaching other drummers, including Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Micky Waller (Little Richard) and Mick Underwood (Ritchie Blackmore).[9][10] Marshall commented, "I used to teach about 65 pupils a week and what with playing as well, I was earning in the early 1950s somewhere in the region of £5,000 a year (eqv. 2012 to £108,000), which was how I first saved money to go into business."[8]"
 
Wow! I didn't realize this until recently. Ironic how Jimi Hendrix's name is James Marshall Hendrix as well. Goes to show drummers aren't just pretty faces after all.
 
There's a story about him owning a music store and teaching out of it. A guy that worked there starting building amps and somehow, that became Marshall amps. I think Pete Townsend was one of his early customers.

Pete had Marshall build him a large cab with 8x12" speakers. After the tour, Townsend apparently came back and had Marshall cut the amp in two pieces to make it lighter for the road crew. That's apparently the beginning of the infamous 4x12" cab.
 
There's a story about him owning a music store and teaching out of it. A guy that worked there starting building amps and somehow, that became Marshall amps. I think Pete Townsend was one of his early customers.

Pete had Marshall build him a large cab with 8x12" speakers. After the tour, Townsend apparently came back and had Marshall cut the amp in two pieces to make it lighter for the road crew. That's apparently the beginning of the infamous 4x12" cab.

Later Townsend switched to HI-WATT amps... they were built to MILSPEC (i.e. resilient) which gave them great favor among the touring bands. Marshall's dominated though. I always liked the HI-WATT sound better.
 
Later Townsend switched to HI-WATT amps... they were built to MILSPEC (i.e. resilient) which gave them great favor among the touring bands. Marshall's dominated though. I always liked the HI-WATT sound better.

Well yeah. Sorry I got carried away in that last post. I'm a longtime guitar player and Marshall fan. :)

Over never played a hi watt in person, but would love to sometime.
 
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