Sixty years on from Hendrix's first Marshall, the run ends with a handmade JMH Studio amp and two purple-soaked portable audio editions.
Marshall has capped its Jimi Hendrix 60th anniversary run with three new editions, marking 60 years since Hendrix first plugged into a Marshall Super 100 in 1966. The Major V, Emberton III and JMH Studio all wear the same purple, cosmic-leaning artwork, and this is the last release in the series.
The look draws on Hendrix’s love of space and colour – a purple oil-on-water pattern across all three, topped with the all-seeing eye motif tied to his interest in the third eye.
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Major V
The oil-on-water design flows through the inner headband and ear cups of these black on-ear headphones, with psychedelic graphics over the top. Under the finish it’s a standard Major V, with 40mm dynamic drivers, foldable ear cups and more than 100 hours of playback on a charge. A 15-minute top-up returns about 15 hours if you’re caught short, and the headphones also take a charge wirelessly. Bluetooth 5.3 handles the connection, with LE Audio support on board, and the customisable M-button puts a shortcut of your choosing under your thumb.
Emberton III
The same pattern features across the sleeve and grille of the Emberton III portable speaker, its all-seeing eye picked out in silver on the media jog and lit by purple LEDs. Each silicone sleeve is hand-dipped with a water transfer print, so no two speakers come out the same. Marshall’s True Stereophonic tuning throws sound out 360 degrees rather than firing in one direction, and Dynamic Loudness keeps the tonal balance in check as you move the volume around. Playback runs past 32 hours on a charge, and an IP67 rating means it copes with dust and can sit in a metre of water for half an hour – so a spilled drink or a session by the pool is no big deal.
Studio JMH half stack
Marshall’s UK factory builds the Studio JMH by hand, pairing an all-valve head with a matching 2×12 cabinet. The head reworks the Studio Vintage design for plexi-era tones, running from warm blues to biting leads, with four inputs and a switch that drops the output from 20W down to 5W for lower volumes at home. The 2×12 cab houses a pair of Celestion V-Type speakers for a balanced, articulate voice. The tribute shows most in the finish, with a black-and-purple psychedelic pattern across the fret and control panel and silver beading through the knobs, handle, logo, grille and back panel, a nod to the jewellery Hendrix wore. The all-seeing eye badge sits on the top and bottom of the stack.
For Janie L. Hendrix, who runs the family’s Experience Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix companies, the pairing hits close to home. “The story of Jimi and Marshall has always been personal to me because I first heard it from my dad, Al Hendrix,” she says. “Jimi was always searching for a sound that did not yet exist, pushing beyond what anyone thought an electric guitar could do. Marshall gave him the power and freedom to turn those bold ideas into a sound the world had never heard before.”
The Major V and Emberton III are out now through Marshall. For local enquiries on the Studio JMH half stack, head here.
