Marshall.
Sixty years have passed since a young American guitarist wandered into Jim Marshall’s Hanwell drum shop, carrying a Fender Stratocaster and an appetite for volume. Mitch Mitchell, the drummer who later joined the Jimi Hendrix Experience, spent his Saturday evenings working behind that same counter, eventually introducing the two men who would define the sound of rock. Marshall is commemorating their seismic encounter with the ‘Hendrix 60th Anniversary Collection,’ a series of limited releases where cosmic aesthetics meet high-voltage engineering.
In a heartfelt letter to Marshall’s fans, Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix, notes that the pairing went far beyond a standard hardware arrangement. “The Marshall x Hendrix collaboration was the cultivation of new techniques and extreme ideas for their time that elevated the entire medium of sound,” she writes. “They brought something new that changed the way music was heard. That’s where the legacy began.” She recalls discussing the cosmic nature of the alliance with Jim Marshall himself, marvelling at how the stars aligned given that they shared the names James and Marshall – Jim’s surname being Jimi’s legal middle name.
The design leans directly into Hendrix’s obsession with velvet, silver trinkets and stargazing science fiction. Emma Rydahl, Senior Industrial Designer at the Marshall Group, admits the team spent months spinning psychedelic tracks on repeat while testing fabrics to ensure the visual rhythm hit the right note. “From his fashion to his lyrics to – of course – his music, there are countless stories we could tell about Hendrix. A lot of time has flowed into the fine-tuning of the final design, so that in the end everything is coherent across the entire collection,” she explains.
Marshall.
Marshall.
The result is a total overhaul of the Acton III Bluetooth speaker, wrapped in plush, tactile velvet and finished with a silver control panel, purple knobs and matching LEDs that feel delightfully unstuck in time. Even the power-up noise has been customised, greeting listeners with rare instrumental snippets from his 1968 track ‘Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland).’
For the purists who prefer their nostalgia at a volume that threatens the structural integrity of their windows, the jewel of the drop is the 1959 JMH Half Stack. Hand-wired in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, the monolithic setup features a cosmic oil-on-water swirl of black and purple across the front grille, punctuated by silver hardware inspired by Hendrix’s personal jewellery. It comes bundled with a matching Dunlop Fuzz Face® distortion pedal to faithfully recreate that raw, biting snarl that rattled Woodstock.
Terry Marshall, co-founder of the company, claims that the pairing was entirely elemental: “Jimi was an extraordinary musician, a true force of nature. He played Marshall, so we wanted Marshall. We undoubtedly grew alongside his fame.”
Bringing this legacy into the contemporary space, the campaign imagery features Austin-based independent artist Zach Person. Person, whose raw approach to the blues-rock genre frequently draws comparisons to the late guitarist, represents the modern continuation of that same sonic disruption.
With hints of further collaborative drops scheduled for later in the year, Marshall is making it clear that while Hendrix might have left the stage decades ago, the frequency he discovered remains completely dialled in.
Marshall.
The Hendrix 60th Anniversary Collection is now available online, with the Acton III bundle including two themed T-shirts. Pre-orders for the hand-built Half Stack are also open, followed by a wider release at selected retailers starting 14 May. Discover more here.
photography. courtesy of Marshall
words. Gennaro Costanzo
