There are few partnerships in music history as iconic as Marshall and Jimi Hendrix. One built the amps. The other pushed them to their absolute limits and changed rock music forever.
Now, six decades after Hendrix first plugged into a Marshall amplifier in 1966, the legendary audio brand is celebrating that history with the launch of the Marshall x Hendrix 60th Anniversary Collection, a psychedelic and cosmic-inspired lineup paying tribute to one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Leading the collection is a stunning limited-edition redesign of the Acton III Bluetooth speaker, arriving with one of the boldest visual makeovers Marshall has released in recent years.
Inspired by Hendrix’s love for velvet fashion, silver jewellery, and his fascination with space and science fiction, the special edition Acton III ditches the traditional Marshall look for something far more flamboyant and era-defining.
Wrapped in crushed velvet with a silver control panel, glowing purple LEDs, and matching purple knobs, the speaker looks like it was teleported straight out of the late 1960s psychedelic rock scene.
Marshall says the design process involved experimenting with fabrics, patterns, and psychedelic textures to capture Hendrix’s spirit beyond just the music itself. The result feels less like a standard speaker refresh and more like a collector’s art piece for rock fans.
But the tribute goes beyond aesthetics.
Powering on the speaker triggers a unique startup sound crafted from four separate Hendrix recordings, including a rare instrumental version of Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland). A touch that immediately drops listeners into Hendrix’s sonic universe before the music even begins.
The speaker also features symbolic artwork including the “all-seeing eye” motif stamped in silver along the side, representing clarity, vision, and Hendrix’s boundary-pushing creativity.
Of course, none of this would matter if the speaker itself sounded poor, but thankfully the Acton III remains one of Marshall’s strongest home Bluetooth speakers.
Compact enough for smaller setups while still delivering warm mids, punchy bass, and room-filling sound, it continues to strike a nice balance between modern convenience and Marshall’s rock-and-roll identity.
The broader anniversary collection also includes a 1959 JMH Half Stack and a limited-edition Fuzz Face pedal for more hardcore guitar enthusiasts and collectors.
The partnership between Marshall and Hendrix remains one of those rare moments where artist and brand genuinely elevated each other.
Hendrix transformed the Marshall stack into a cultural icon just as much as Marshall helped shape the explosive sound that defined Hendrix’s career.
From Monterey to Woodstock, the pairing became inseparable from the birth of modern rock performance.
The Marshall x Hendrix 60th Anniversary limited-edition Acton III Bluetooth speaker is priced at S$329 and is available in Singapore through Swee Lee Store at Clark Quay.