THE FATHER of Loud is silent now. But his legacy still drives his company forward. A worldwide success story has grown from the manufacture of what has become the leading brand of guitar amplifiers and diversified into other associated products; bass amplifiers; drum kits; headphones; beer; the fridges to keep it cool; a record label. “We make the products that allow the
artists to make the sound they want,” says Marshall Amplification managing director Jon Ellery. “It is the whole 360 degrees around the sound now but everything we do and touch must be music-related. Jon joined the company at its factory in Bletchley in 1993 as IT manager. He became managing director six years ago when founder Jim Marshall stepped aside and has worked to evolve the brand, always mindful of the powerful heritage of the business and its standing in the music industry worldwide. “Jim was just a great guy,”
says Jon. “He was a down to earth, typically entrepreneurial businessman. His 100% passion was this business and it is my job to make sure we continue that.”
He has done so by
diversifying the Marshall brand across a wider musical sphere. Marshall Amplification remains the heart of the business but the company acquired, first, percussion and drum brand Natal and more recently Eden Bass, a specialist manufacturer of amplifiers for bass instruments. Today Marshall also manufactures ‘lifestyle’
‘We are very proud to still be manufacturing in the UK’
products with strong music links. A range of headphones hit the market in 2010, followed by loudspeakers, a fridge and now a specially brewed beer. The company also launched its own record label, Marshall Records, in July last year. Production is split between the Marshall
factory on the Denbigh West industrial estate and its factory in Vietnam. Bletchley is home exclusively to the high-end manufacturing, principally of the amplifiers for which Marshall is most renowned. The factory, including the Marshall Theatre in which new products are tested by technicians and the world’s leading rock musicians, covers 150,000 sq ft having expanded in 1993 when the company bought the factory of the former cigarette filter manufacturer Filtrona. Manufacturing in the Bletchley factory is mainly
carried out by hand. The 135 staff create 260 amplifiers every week, each taking up to ten
hours to complete. “We are very proud to still be manufacturing in the UK,” Jon says. “It is not easy because of restrictions and the government talks a lot about the importance of manufacturers but then imposes lots of regulations on us. It makes manufacturing very costly. “But we have always manufactured in the UK and one of my passions is to still have a manufacturing business here.” The musicians change, the music genres change but the fundamental remains; music needs the
best quality sound to create the most intense emotions in its listeners. “They still want our product because they know there is nothing like the sound of a Marshall amp,” says Jon. “We have the heritage, we listen to what guitarists want and give them the sound they are after. They are all interesting people to work with and I am always asked who is my favourite guitarist to deal with but that’s like being asked which is your favourite child. “You don’t have one; we love them all.”
JIM MARSHALL REMEMBERED: Turn to page 36
“The great thing about Jim is he's one of a handful of people in this world who've created something that's the standard of the
industry...It really is few and far between to be able to provide a product that caters to the masses the way that Marshall has. Especially with the amount of integrity it's maintained all these years.” SLASH
Ex-guitarist, Guns N’ Roses Business 31
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