'Father of loud' Jim Marshall dies

Jim Marshall, the man dubbed the 'Father of loud', has died at the age of 88.

His guitar amplifiers have been used by some of the biggest names in rock.

His company have set up a page on facebook to allow fans to pay tribute to the man many say changed the history of music.

They announced his death on their website.

Born James Charles Marshall in Kensington on 29th July 1923, he spent most of his childhood in hospital due to illness.

Marshall was a singer and drummer before becoming a music teacher. He then used his earnings from teaching to open a music shop in London in 1960.

He started to develop his own amplifiers and speaker cabinets after responding to requests from guitarists in his shop.

In 1962 he formed the company that became known as Marshall Amplification. Early adopters of his amps, including Jim Hendrix and Pete Townshend, affectionately nicknamed him 'the father of loud'.

He is revered as as one of the four forefathers of rock music equipment along with Leo Fender, Les Paul and Seth Lover.

Twitter has been filled with rock stars paying their tributes. Guns and Roses lead guitarist tweeted:

Based in Milton Keyes Marshall Amplification currently employs 160 people producing around 4,000 amplifiers per month for export across the world.

Jim was given the OBE in 2003 for his services to music and charity.

He passed away on the 5th April and is survived by his children Terry and Victoria and step-children Paul and Dawn.