Marshall Major


The Marshall Major was a guitar amplifier made by Marshall. It was introduced in 1967 as the "Marshall 200". It had a plexi panel and two inputs in one channel, but in contrast with the 100 watt heads made by Marshall, the first series had split tone controls similar to the Sound City amps. For the second series, in late 1968, Marshall reverted to ordinary passive tone controls, and was called "Marshall Major". Some authors claim the first version had active tone controls but this is incorrect, the schematics for all versions are available online.
The amplifier used KT88 output valves, two ECC83 preamp valves and one ECC82 valve. Approximately 1,200 of these amps were produced from 1967 to 1974; Marshall ceased production when the supply of KT88s ran out.
The amplifier was used by rock musicians who needed very high volume. A notable user is Ritchie Blackmore; his Major had the two input channels cascaded into one, essentially creating the first Marshall with a master volume.

Other versions

The Major was also made as a PA amplifier, Model 1966, and as a bass amplifier, Model 1978. A line of on-ear headphones by Marshall have also been issued with the same name.

Notable users