Stop The Presses!

Amplifier Inventor Dead at 88: Jim Marshall Was ‘The Father of Loud’

By | Stop The Presses! – Thu, Apr 5, 2012 6:16 PM EDT

Jim Marshall [Photo:Annamaria DiSanto/WireImage]The man who forever changed the sound of rock music has died. Jim Marshall, known as "the Father of Loud" and creator of the Marshall amp, left behind a legacy that will be heard for decades.

Word of the music legend's passing caused searches on the Web to immediately hit a high note.

The Mashall amp, named for its inventor, was the "weapon of choice" for such rock gods as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townshend of The Who.

The 1960s sound was not about precision, Marshall said in an interview with the Associated Press in 2000. The sound he wanted was "raw, fuzzy power." The kind of ear-splitting sound that can be heard in an amphitheater above the roar of the crowd. That kind of rough, raw sound is what the Marshall amp could bring, and it's what rockers wanted.

The website for his company, Marshall Amplification, posted a message that read in part: "Your memory; the music and joy your amps have brought to countless millions for the past five decades … will always live on." Marshall was 88. He is survived by two children, two stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

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