RIP Mr. Marshall, you created a well designed product albeit with the known limitations an amp/speaker for audio generation.
A pipe organ can run at full volume all day long with ZERO distortion which cannot be said of ANY amp/speaker combination as there is always some inter-modulation distortion.
Unfortunately there are a few instruments a Theater Organ cannot play/emulate and one of those very few is a guitar.
With a 10HP blower I have the potential of well over 7000 watts of distortion free sound.
Loved Rock before the electronic guitar and the DELIBERATE distortion introduced by the Fuzz Box.
Also, the beloved “Wall Of Sound” is only wonderful for hiding the voices of humans and individual instruments be they good or bad voices.
But as anyone who has seen a McDonalds/Burger King/Microsoft bottom line, mediocrity can be very profitable.
“A pipe organ can run at full volume all day long with ZERO distortion which cannot be said of ANY amp/speaker combination as there is always some inter-modulation distortion.”
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the buildings housing the organ. I swear I saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NY shake when they hit the low notes. :)
But what makes Marshall amplifiers great is their distortion sound. And all but the very earliest Marshall amps were designed very intentionally to distort. It wasn't just the result of technical limitations.
Yeah, a Marshall stack is a far cry from a clean powered sound reinforcement rack with four-way electronic crossover, four stereo amps and subwoofers, 15's, upper mid cabs and horns...
and a tech with half a brain watching the clip lights.