Rock on Jim Marshall...rock on.

Jim Marshall died.

Jim Marshall died.

No, I did not repeat myself. History did.

In less than two weeks we have lost two of the great icons of the rock and roll era.  Jim Marshall the photographer who documented the rock movement like no one else, and Jim Marshall the maker of the famous Marshall amps, the source of much of the power that generated rock to the place where it is today.

I never had the opportunity to meet the photographer, but the other Jim Marshall, the amp guru, I got to meet twice.  The first time was at the Los Angeles Guitar Show. Someone I had dealings with and had bought several guitars from introduced him to me.  Mr. Marshall was quite a gentleman and we discussed his new line of digital amps.  I told him I was interested in one –I believe they were called the JM series­– but I’m not sure about all the nomenclature surrounding the amps in those days. I still could care less if I am playing a JM 50 or a JXT 500. I just like the sound of a Marshall when it is connected to a Gibson Les Paul.

Several years passed and we met again at the Dallas Guitar Show. We were actually standing in line for a bit of lunch when we struck up a conversation. I reminded Jim of where we met and he remembered having given me his business card with “give him 10% off on me-JM” on the back.  I took that card to a guitar shop in L.A. and bought the amp and they, true to his word, honored the discount.  He remembered that and we got to talking about the particular piece of equipment. “How did you like it?” He asked.  I assured him I still had it and was “still using it.  Hum and all.”

“Oh that hum.  That damn hum. You know when we made the first Marshalls we couldn’t get the hum out of the rectifiers. Vox had that crystal clear sound.  Fender, too.  But we had a low-grade noise.  It drove me and the engineers up a wall. But the guys buying the amps didn’t seem to mind. But when we went to the digital amps we made a clean sound.  Clear as crystal – better than a Vox, even. We even learned how to take the sound out of our tube amps, too. We were so proud of those boxes. But the amps didn’t sell.  We couldn’t understand what was happening.  So we went down to the music stores and talked to the buyers and talked to the sales people on the floor and what we learned was that people thought the new amps didn’t sound like a Marshall.  They didn’t have that buzz – that damn hum.  Here I had been chasing that hum for thirty or so years and it was actually making me a rich man.” We both laughed.  He then introduced me to his wife and we talked some more about his days in the British Invasion with all the bands turning to his amps and speakers and becoming a household name (in guitar players’ homes, that is). And through the whole conversation he was as humble as a regular guy. There was no pretense or super ego – just a guy who enjoyed making things with his mind and with his hands. 

A friend of mine walked up at that moment and saw me and said hello.  I, in turn introduced him to the Marshalls, with no identifier as to who this Jim Marshall was. And my friend said, “I just love your photography.  Man your shots of the Stones and Beatles are second to none. A Hendrix was a knockout.” Jim Marshall just smiled and said, “It’s the other Marshall.” And my friend moved on; none-the-wiser as to his mistake. “Happens all the time,” Jim Marshall the amp inventor said.  “Heck, I can’t even focus a camera.”  We laughed again and he went back to the Marshall booth and I went looking for a Les Paul Gold Top.

It was the last time I saw him in person. I read yesterday that he had passed. It was sad.  An era coming to a slow end.  We lost two great artist named Jim Marshall this past month.

One of them was hounded most of his life by a hum. That damn hum. And my God, what music that hum helped create.