"My wife and I were with [Jim] when he passed away at about 8:15. He got cancer toward the end of last year, and had surgery for that, and it came back. He was in a terrible state the last five or six weeks. He's in a much better place now."

Jim Marshall, who was born in Kensington in 1923, earned his money as drummer with big bands and jazz bands in the 1940s and 50s.

His idol was the big band drummer Gene Krupa, and after taking lessons Jim started to teach himself at the end of the 1940s.

With the rise of rock 'n roll in the late '50s, more and more students asked Jim how to play rock 'n roll and rock. Among them were Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix), Micky Waller (Little Richard), and Micky Underwood (Ritchie Blackmore).

In the early 1960s Jim opened his own music store in Hanwell, west London, initially specialising in selling drumkits.

Then the drummers brought their groups in, including a young Pete Townshend, later lead guitarist for The Who. Pete suggested to Jim that he expand his music shop to sell guitars and amplifiers as well as drums.

According to an interview Jim Marshall gave several years ago, the London store quickly turned into a "rock 'n' roll labour exchange", and he hired an engineer employed by record label EMI to help him build prototype amplifiers. Jim rejected the first five attempts but was happy with the sound of the sixth.

The first Marshall amps didn't look like much - just a simple black box with a speaker inside and basic controls on top - but they packed a formidable punch.

Legendary musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were among the early Marshall amp users.

Almost every guitarist who rocked over the next five decades would use Marshall equipment, from Jeff Beck, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin to Guns n' Roses, AC/DC, U2 and Nirvana.

In 2004 Jim received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) honour for services to the music industry and to charity.

Jim Marshall is survived by two children, two stepchildren and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.