Today (11/11), Marshall has announced an extremely limited batch of special edition Spinal Tap amp heads that, just like the amps seen in the band’s recent sequel, go to Infinity.
Well, sort of. Marshall has dubbed this “the loudest amp ever made”, though while that may not be strictly true in terms of output – this is a dressed up 100W JVM410H wearing appropriate Spinal Tap attire – it’s certainly loud in spirit.
It brings a 40-year collaboration in the making full circle. The ultra-limited Spinal Tap JVM410H harks back to that now-iconic scene from the first Spinal Tap movie – in which guitarist Nigel Tufnel proclaims his amps “go to 11” – but brings it inline with Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which went quite a few steps further.
In the lead-up to the film – which featured a host of other eye-catching guitar gear – Tufnel (real name Christopher Guest) told Guitar World that he asked Marshall to make him an amp that went beyond 11 for the reunion. The Infinity amp was born.
For Spinal Tap fans, the conversation soon turned to whether we’d see Marshall release an Infinity amp. Now, it has, but only 20 – available exclusively in the US – will be made. Of those 20, 11 (ahem) will be sold through Sweetwater’s Gear Exchange, with all profits going to charities chosen by Spinal Tap.
What makes this amp so Spinal Tap-y? Well, of course you get that master output control that extends to Infinity, but as an additional nod to the original film, all other knobs go to 11.
Two channels have also been renamed after the band’s guitarists – so you get a St. Hubbins (for David St. Hubbins) and Tufnel mode. And, if you look really closely at the pictures Marshall has released, you’ll note the bass knobs have been renamed ‘Smalls’ in honor of the bassist, Derek.
The whole project has been a long time coming. Marshall was tasked with constructing everything from the teaser amp to the ones seen in the film. No mean feat, considering they were made in Milton Keynes, England, and shipped to the US for filming.
Speaking of the amp’s origin, Marshall Artist Relations manager Hugh Gilmartin recalls, “There was always talk of the Infinity amp and I believe it actually started quite a while ago.
“I think we had done one [before] for the band, where it was like, ‘Check this out, look what we can do.’ Then, when we were talking with the guys, it was like, ‘Hey, we did something similar to that before. Let’s revisit that and see if we can do it again.’
“We just kind of take a step back and go, ‘Wouldn't it be really cool if we had Spinal Tap amps for ourselves?’ What would we want in them? That's part of the impetus of it.
“Then, sending the details and the mock-up to Christopher Guest – aka Nigel – and having him come to us and say, ‘This is really cool. What else do you guys have in mind?’ It was very collaborative.”
Director Rob Reiner reached out directly to Gilmartin, and the wheels were set in motion. Guest proved to be a particularly key collaborator in the amp’s construction, specifying his own preferred amp and suggesting his own tweaks to make it more Spinal Tap.
“What was super-interesting to me was, when having one of these chats with Christopher, he knew exactly what he wanted,” Gilmartin remembers. “He knew the Marshall product line really well.
“He called me and caught me off-guard with, ‘Here's what we’d really like to do for the movie. I like the JVM410. I like it because…’ and he just rattled off all of these reasons. I'm like, ‘This guy can work for Marshall.’”
Guest’s support aside, the Infinity amps came with their own set of challenges. This batch of special-edition amps couldn’t be made until the amps made for the film were spot-on. That required some back and forth.
“My role in bringing it to life was more supporting Hugh with any ideas you came to the table with,” Steph Carter, Marshall Director of Culture Marketing, remembers. “Like, ‘The band have asked for this tweak, and we need to lock the design in. Figure out how to make it work.’
“I think it's amazing that something so off-the-cuff has become an integral part of our company's history and culturally so relevant to where the company was at the time,” Carter says of the scene that intertwined the Marshall and Spinal Tap fates.
“People love our amps because they're loud. That one line has cemented itself as kind of a tagline for the company, and it came as an off-the-cuff thing in a film.
“But it's so culturally relevant then, as it is now, for us. It's been nothing but amazing to see the band coming back again and doing Spinal Tap II and being involved in it in this way, and now being able to do the amp as well. It just helps cement the history and the legacy of both together.”
Head over to Marshall for more information.
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