Filter
Top Products
1
ENGLISH
During the mid '60s a lot of well-known and up-and-coming
guitarists used to visit me and see me at my music shop in
Hanwell, West London, but there’s one particular visitor that I’ll
never forget. One Saturday in the autumn of 1966, a tall, lanky
American chap walked in with Johnny Mitchell or ‘Mitch’
Mitchell
as most people know him. His name was James Marshall
Hendrix and he quickly became the greatest ambassador my
amplifiers have ever had.
Mitch used to work at my shop as a ‘Saturday boy’, when he was
a teenager
, and take drum lessons from me. He was a very
talented lad and quickly became one of my top students. When
Jimi Hendrix came over to England in 1966 he put a three-piece
band together
. Mitch auditioned and got the drumming job along
with Noel Redding on bass guitar.
A
key figure in Jimi's management company (Anim Ltd), ‘Tappy’
Wright, recalls that when Jimi started rehearsing with 'The
Experience' he was trying various amplifier setups, none of which
he was happy with. Chas Chandler had asked Pete Townsend for
his advice, prompting Pete to send his roadie, Neville Chester,
(later to become Jimi's roadie), over with a Marshall Super 100
head and two Marshall columns for Jimi to try
. I’m delighted to
say that Jimi fell in love with the Marshall sound straight away
and knowing that Mitch knew me he said to him, “I’ve just got to
have this Marshall stuff because it sounds so good. Can I meet
up with this character that has my name - James Marshall?!”
Despite his somewhat wild appearance and his incredible, larger-
than-life on-stage personality, Jimi was a very softly-spoken,
charming and extremely polite young man with an unbelievable
sense of humour. When he came to see me we talked about his
sound and he asked me a lot of questions about Marshall
equipment. W
e hit it off right away.
The very first words Jimi said to me were, “I’ve got to use your
stuff! I don’t want anything given to me; I want to pay full retail
price for whatever I order.” That impressed me greatly and then
he added, “I’m going to need service wherever I am in the world!”
My first thought was, “Oh no, he's going to expect me to put an
engineer on an aeroplane every time a valve needs replacing!” As
that wasn't exactly practical I suggested that we taught his roadie,
Gerry Stickells, some basic amplifier servicing skills, like changing
and biasing valves. Jimi liked the idea and so his roadie came to
the factory for several weeks. He must’ve been a very good
learner because we were never called out at all! It was wonderful
and Jimi was very happy. We remained good friends right up to
his tragic and untimely death on September 18th 1970.
Sadly, because we both had such busy schedules I only got to
see him perform three or four times but on those occasions I'd
always go back stage for a chat and a laugh with him. Jimi was a
fantastic character who loved to joke around, I always had a great
time on those rare occasions we managed to get together.
In my book Jimi’s playing is still the best ever and heaven above
knows what he’d be doing if he was still with us today. Plus his
showmanship was just fantastic! I can still remember him scaring
the living daylights out of all the big name English guitarists when
he first came over here because they’d never heard or seen
anything like Jimi - no-one had. Jimi’
s talent was so extraordinary
that he didn’t only influence his generation; he’s influenced every
single generation since then. His records and videos continue to
sell amazingly well, he still appears on the front cover of the
world's biggest music and guitar magazines on a regular basis,
and when I go out and do appearances, kids of all ages insist on
having his poster!
That’s how impressive his legacy is, and it
continues to grow
.
I am extremely proud of the fact that Jimi chose to use Marshall
Amplification and very pleased to celebrate the 40th anniversary
of his legendary association with Marshall by way of this limited-
edition Jimi Hendrix Super 100JH stack. I would also like to
express my sincere gratitude to Janie Hendrix and all involved at
Authentic Hendrix (the family company established by the late
James Al Hendrix, Jimi’s father) for collaborating with us in order
to make this exciting joint-project a reality.
Only 600 of these authentic, handwired re-issues will be made.
I sincerely hope that this unique looking and sounding landmark
of Marshall history will provide you with countless hours of playing
pleasure, inspiring you to push musical boundaries even further…
just like Jimi did with the originals!
Yours Sincerely,
=c`^ eYV :YRZc^R_
@_ec`UfTeZ`_
KVTY_ZTR] @_W`c^ReZ`_
=c`_e GR_V] =VRefcVd
IVRc GR_V] =VRefcVd
Dr Jim Marshall OBE and daughter Victoria (Managing Director)
“
Meeting Jim was beyond groovy for me. It was such a
relief to talk to someone who knows and cares about
sound. I love my Marshall amps; I am nothing without them!
”
Jimi Hendrix
ENGLISH
=c`^ eYV :YRZc^R_
@_ec`UfTeZ`_
KVTY_ZTR] @_W`c^ReZ`_
=c`_e GR_V] =VRefcVd
IVRc GR_V] =VRefcVd
The Super 100JH Jimi Hendrix Head is a Class-A/B, all-valve,
100 W
att amp with two channels (High Treble & Normal) and a
shared EQ network. It is a meticulously accurate, handwired
re-issue of a 100-Watt head that Dr. Jim Marshall recalls naming
the ‘Super 100’
when it first came out in 1966 because of the
extra power it produced compared to the 50-Watt JTM50.
In order to make the Super 100JH identical to the 1966, 100-W
att
heads Jimi Hendrix used, the circuit, cosmetics, construction,
sound and all-important dynamic characteristics have to be 100%
correct - and they are. W
e went to incredible lengths to achieve
maximum authenticity and are delighted to report that our
suppliers were equally as exacting in their tasks, none more so
than Drake and Celestion.
As you can see from its front panel layout, the controls of the
Super 100JH are both familiar and straightforward. Its two
channels - High Treble and Normal - each have two inputs (High
and Low sensitivity) and separate Loudness (Volume) controls,
both sharing the amplifier's four tone controls: Treble, Middle,
Bass and Presence. Like all Marshall valve amplifiers, the
Super 100JH performs optimally when turned up to deliver your
personally preferred dynamic range. Due to its 100-W
att power
rating and astonishing projection, it is a formidable live amplifier in
even the largest of venues, a truth born out by Jimi time-and-time
again.
The Super 100JH's thick, pure and harmonically rich musical tone
emanates not only from its pre-amp valves but from its power
valves being driven into a dedicated 100W output transformer.
The Super 100JH will produce all of Jimi's ground breaking tones
and lends itself perfectly to the emotion-fuelled music that
launched him to the peerless, legendary status he maintains to
this very day
. It reacts superbly to picking dynamics and even the
subtlest variations of your guitar's volume control - going from ‘in-
your-face’ when you play with unbridled aggression, to subtle ‘in
your ear’ blues caresses when you pull back or turn down… as
exemplified by Jimi's recordings where he made extensive use of
this amp's astounding dynamic capability.
Thanks to extensive research, we have learned from technicians
and roadies of the period that the 1966 Super 100 heads that
Jimi used were ‘stock’
except for minor modifications to the tone
circuitry that were implemented in response to his request for
‘more treble.’ There is evidence to support this in our reference,
where we found two small but significant component changes to
the tone stack. Replacing a 56K resistor with a 33K, and a 250pf
capacitor with a 500pf not only gives the amp a moderate treble
boost (resulting from the capacitor increase) but also an increase
in bottom end and low mids (due to the drop in the value of the
resistor).
There is also a small but noticeable decrease in the
amount of mid-cut when compared to the JTM45* as a result of
these changes. This ‘more treble’ modification is included in your
Super 100JH, as it was in the amazing sounding, and pristine
condition (in terms of circuitry) reference unit (serial number 7026)
** from 1966 that we used as one of our references.
*TONAL NOTE: the original Super 100 was essentially a JTM45
pre-amp driving a 100-Watt output stage. The ‘more treble’
modification just described not only gave the amp more cut and
edge but also gave it slightly more gain - basically the same sort
of wave-shape but with a bit more drive. As the Marshall 100-watt
head evolved due to more and more artists requesting ‘more
treble,’ this was one of the modifications that eventually became
standard in Marshall pre-amp circuits.
**REFERENCE UNIT NOTE: The reference ‘Super 100’
mentioned, Serial Number 7026, is the well-known unit owned by
Rich Dickinson of England. He bought the amp in 1971 after
seeing it advertised in the UK weekly music publication, Melody
Maker - the ad, placed by ‘Carlsboro Sound,’
stated it was
previously owned by Hendrix. A worker in the store told him it was
sold to them by one of Jimi’s roadies. Even though the head has:
- J.H. Exp stencilled on top of it; is 100% period correct; contains
the aforementioned modification and there is strong photographic
evidence that indicates Jimi owned and used this amp, there is
no conclusive proof for Marshall
Amplification plc to be 100%
certain. That said, there is no doubt that Jimi owned amps exactly
like it due to the time period in question.
** REFERENCE UNIT
- Serial Number 7026
Photo credit - Jean Louis Rancurel - Paris, L
’Olympia - 9th October 1967
“
The KT66 was a
great valve that was
part of the secret of
those early amps.
”
Eddie Kramer