Jim Marshall and Jimi Hendrix: The Connection Behind the 60th Anniversary Collection

London, late September 1966, and a sound that needed more volume

Jimi Hendrix landed in London on 24 September 1966, brought over by Chas Chandler, and played an impromptu solo spot at the Scotch of St James that same night. He was using a 30-watt Burns amp in those first days, and it wasn’t enough. He wanted volume and sustain he couldn’t get out of what he had.

Within days he was jamming with Brian Auger’s Trinity and got his hands on a Marshall amplifier for the first time, cranked past anything he’d played through before. It’s the sound that made him go looking for the source.

That search led him to Jim Marshall’s shop, where drummer Mitch Mitchell made the introduction on 11 October 1966. Hendrix ordered his first stacks that day and took delivery of Marshall Super 100 rigs, which the Jimi Hendrix Experience then hauled out on their first tour. Accounts of the meeting describe Hendrix insisting on paying full retail, no favours, in exchange for gear he could rely on and a shop that would actually service it.

He kept coming back. Marshall’s own records estimate Hendrix bought somewhere between 50 and 100 amplifiers from the company between 1966 and 1970, and Jim Marshall would later call him the company’s greatest ambassador.

A limited edition range to commemorate this close relationship

This new collection aims to commemorate that relationship. At the top of the range sits a reimagining of that classic 1959 JMH 60th Anniversary Half Stack, a handwired 100-watt head paired with a matching 1960AHW 4×12 cabinet, finished in the collection’s purple, oil-on-water artwork.

The rest of the collection is built for listening rather than playing, and it’s where the range actually reaches most people: a pair of headphones and two Bluetooth speakers, all wearing the same cosmic purple design language as the amp gear.

Headphones and speakers, in the same purple as the amp

The Major V Hendrix Edition is the entry point, priced at $259. It’s built on the standard Major V platform, 40mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint, USB-C and wireless charging, over 100 hours of playtime, so the everyday performance is unchanged from the regular model. What’s different is cosmetic but deliberate: a purple-and-black oil-on-water pattern worked into the inner headband and ear cups, visible only when you’re wearing them or someone’s close enough to notice.

The Emberton III Hendrix Edition, at $289, applies the same idea to Marshall’s small portable speaker. The purple oil-on-water pattern covers the silicone sleeve and grille, and because each unit goes through a hand-dipped, water-transfer process, no two sleeves come out quite the same. On the media jog sits an all-seeing eye motif picked out in silver, lit from behind by a purple LED, a piece of late-1960s psychedelic iconography Marshall has leaned on across the whole range. Underneath the artwork it’s the same Emberton III as always: two 10-watt drivers, two passive radiators, over 32 hours of battery life.

The Acton III Hendrix Edition, at $499, is the one that goes furthest with the theme. Rather than a printed finish, it’s wrapped in crushed purple velvet, with a silver control panel, purple knobs, and glowing purple lighting. Shortlist called it a speaker that “looks like it came from 1969,” and the lava-lamp-style graphic across the grille backs that up. It carries a large all-seeing eye on the side panel as well, mirroring the Emberton III’s smaller version. As a mains-powered home speaker it puts out 60 watts RMS with Bluetooth 5.2 and a 3.5mm input, so it’s built to sit on a shelf rather than travel.

All three share the same visual language, purple, cosmic, hand-finished where it counts, which is what ties them back to the amp gear covered earlier rather than making them feel like a separate product line wearing a Hendrix sticker.

Rollout dates and where to see it in person

The collection lands at selected retailers and online on September 7, 2026. Preorders are open now.

Once they’re in, they’ll be on the shelf in St Kilda alongside the rest of the Marshall range, headphones and speakers you can actually put on and listen to before deciding whether purple velvet belongs in your lounge room. Come in, have a listen, take your time.