Above: Townshend with his wall of stacks
As the British Invasion became more aggressive, its popularity was hitting new heights. Bands such as The Who began playing to larger audiences where more power was needed. Pete Townshend and John Entwistle not only wanted to be heard, but they wanted to be felt. Like the beginnings of the JTM-45, Jim Marshall was asked to build this new amplifier.
In 1965, Marshall would reinforce its status as the loudest when they unveiled the 100 watt guitar amplifier – the most powerful of its time. This 100 watt amplifier head was very similar cosmetically to the JTM-45.
What set it apart was Townshend and Entwistle’s request that they needed a giant speaker cabinet to go with this monster of an amplifier. Instead of the 4×12 (four 12″ inch speakers) cabinets being used at Marshall, Townshend and Entwistle wanted it doubled to an 8×12 cabinet!
Jim Marshall warned the two musicians that such a large cabinet would be very difficult to transport, but realised that such a cabinet was for aesthetics rather than anything else (the 8×12 cabinets were intended to be a backdrop on stage to emphasise the power behind the band).
After a few gigs, Townshend and Entwistle returned, revealing that their roadies were complaining about the size of the cabinets.
Marshall’s solution was to simply cut the cabinet in half, creating two. This then became known as the full stack (while a amp head and a single cabinet would be referred to as either a stack or a half stack). A side effect of 8 speakers was a distinct tone which has become part of Rock music history (Hendrix anyone?).
The world’s most iconic amplifier was born!
Over the next few years Marshall would continue to show the world why they were the loudest by producing amplifiers capable of providing 200 watts, and then 300 watts. Although these efforts were impressive, the 100 watt amplifier remains one of the most important milestones of Marshall’s history.
For those interested in Jim Marshall and the company he created, I highly recommend you buy:
Maloof, R. (2004) “Jim Marshall: The Father Of Loud”, San Francisco: Backbeat Books.
