Bluesbreaker
Marshall Amplifiers New Direction
Since dinosaurs roamed this planet, Korg USA has been the American distributor of Marshall Amplification. Marshall being an English made amplifier, used Korg to promote and set-up American dealers tosell to the public. In the fall of 2010, Korg ended their long time partnership with Marshall, quickly forming Marshall USA; headed by Marc Lee Shannon and US Music Corporation out of Mundelein, Illinois. You may know US Music Corporation as Washburn Guitars among many other great brands of musical instruments.
No Handwired or Re-issue Models in 2011
Things seem to take another turn for the Marshall group. As English made amplifiers come into the United States through California, they must meet California standard requirements. In this case, California Electric would not allow Marshall U.K. ship any amplifiers into the states without recertification. Meaning, having every amplifier re-certified and anything that did not comply must be changed to meet the California regulations. It appears that no major components like transformers or speakers had to be altered, real tone changing components. Little things like switches on one model and rubber feet on another. That and a little persuasion gives Marshall the green light to get amplifiers shipping back to the U.S. from August of 2010 through all of 2011, there will be no English made Marshalls coming in. There will be a few exceptions, the very Limited AFD 100 and the YJM Limited Edition heads and later in the fall the Class 5 head and combo. The 2011 Dealer price lists had none of the best selling historic Handwired or Re-issue models in them and are unavailable this year. A weird time for Jim Marshall.
- YJM100
Great New Marshall Gear
As unfortunate as it can be Jim Marshall founder of Marshall Amplification, suffered 3 strokes. After developing some of the greatest amplifiers ever and manufacturing consistent quality, he is forced to appoint twoof his employees to head the great empire. These guys weren’t engineers and really aren’t going to be able to fill Jim Marshalls roll of innovation and design. There is hope on the homefront here in the states. Marc Lee Shannon is Vice President of Marshall US. He is on the ground running, listening to dealers and finding out what musicians are looking for. What a concept. There is great hope that by the beginning of 2012 we will see something big from Marshall. It will be their 50th anniversary. And for a while now there has been a void in their mid priced amplifiers since the DSL and the AVT has been discontinued. There are new models showing up at NAMM this winter to surprise everyone. There will be a 40 watt tube combo and possibly a head to compete with the deluxe. The MG series will be revamped and will have that great Marshall distortion we all want. Class 5 combo and head with some tweeks that will be a hit. Watch for the 50th anniversary models as well. Final note;the YJM100 is set to hid the door late May or June of 2011 and will be very limited. Certain dealers that ordered early will have these and most will be pre-sold. The YJM will have similarities of the legendary 1959 plexi, a 100 watt all valve head that will include a foot switchable boost, noise gate, fx loop, a half power switch to go from 100 to 50 watts and Marshall’s new electronic power attenuation technology. This amp is self biasing as well as a meter on the back that shows which tube isn’t working properly. If you can get one of these amps, do it. It will be a collectors item.
There is a great book of Jim Marshall that everyone should reed called The Father of Loud. Some of the greatest stories that you couldn’t make up.
