# Marshall Artiste



## coloumb

Hello All! 

A long while ago I bought a Marshall Artiste off a friend of who was emigrating. I used it for a bit but for the last 10 years it's more or less been redundant as my family/career have generally got in the way. 

I dug it out the other day and plugged it all up for a thrash and it still sounds pretty jean creamy, even though it's been gigged a fair bit. 

I understand the Artiste range were not really the best of the Marshalll output but I would be curious to know if anyone knows anymore about it. 

Sorry to be a cynic, but could anyone give me a guide price on how much it's worth? I would like to know as I paid £200 for it back in 1990 or so. Was I burned? If was, well hell, I certainly have had a load of fun with it. 

Thanks all!


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## coloumb

Anyone?


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## stryker59

looks cool! coldsteal? r u familiar w/ these amps?


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## colin66

dude, did you ever find out anything more about the amp??

i've recently come across one as well - friend gave it to me, think all it needs are the tubes replaced..

main thing i want to know is:
where do i plug my guitar in?
there's what seems to be 4 inputs, split between 2 different sections, what's the difference?
(i suppose i'll find out more once i replace the tubes and have a toy around)

just to add, i emailed marshall support - i'm waiting now for them to send me some pdfs with more info, oooh.


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## erndawg

If it's the old ( mid '70s) Artiste and not the later Artist, they were not well liked. HEre is a guy that converted his to a Plexi circuit. 

From Marshall Artiste to Plexi


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## colin66

It's definitely the Artiste (mid-70's)

Seems to be mixed opinions about it - Jim Marshall himself didn't seem to like it, though there's some out there who absolutely love it as just a clean amp or for as a front-end for feeding in pedals.

Harmony central

Found some nice pics here as well

Marshall ARTISTE - 50 w

Also a few words (and schematic) here, regarding when the amp was in production.

dr. tube

Other handy things I've found are:

tracing serial number/year of production and
Tubes

Pretty sweet - took a while, but have worked out I've got a 2048 Marshall Artiste 50W head, made in 1976. Sent some pics and my serial no. to Marshall in case they can send me any more info on the amp. Just waiting till next payday now so I can send it off to Marshall to get it serviced and valued so I can sell it on...

Hope this helps anyone else looking for info on the Artiste.


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## sim76

Hey there. I know the artistes get a bad rap, but I have a 1976 100w head, I think it is 2059 model,hard to read as it is written in pen. I purchased this for around $600 australian (around 200 pounds) in 1992 which included a 4x12 strause cab as well.I have never seen another of these amps anywhere. It is the model with the 2 channels and the master volume. I think It may have been modded as it has a switch at the end of the second channel, I presume it is a 3 pos bright switch. I am not sure as I have heard some of them came out with similar switches. Anyway, I have played a lot of Marshalls and have another jcm 800 2204 model (1983) 100w head and I can say that my artiste is the best marshall I have ever played, It has the best clean sound with plenty of bass, not dull or muddy and can hear individual strings with a nice treble (not to bright like my jcm800(thinking of changing the tone cap)) and high head room. It does lack in the crunch side of things (even using a power brake) and I have tried lots of different pedals and effects boards through it, with little success. I now have played through it with valve preamp footpedals and it rocks. It has the best of both worlds now and it is miles above the jcm 800 and that is pretty bloody good. I will post some pics of it, I am looking for another one if anyone knows of anyone who has one for sale. I think the controlls are as follows, not certain of the possitions as I am not at home. power and standby switch, square led, mas vol, presence, bass, mid, treble, vol, 2 verticaly mounted input sockets, 2nd channel is bass, mid, treble, vol then 3 position bright? switch then 2 verticaly mounted input sockets.


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## Dttruestoner

Hey there,
it's been a while since somebody posted something here.
Well here's what I know:
-No it hasn't been very popular, but it's an absolute genius, so say the insiders (as I am, for a lucky fact).
-Mine is from 1972. They were built from 71 to 79.
-It is most likely a Class AB Amp with 4 double triodes for two seperate preamps, which have 2 seperate inputs each. Power amp is 2 pentodes.
-It's got 50W output. There's quite some Low end with this baby. It's safe to connect the two channels. If you haven't allready: Try it. Your neighbours will love it to.
-There are very few of it left. The original dealer where mine came from said, there might be around 50 left. I don't know if that's true, cause he's a smartass sometimes...
-I payed 800€ from a friend, who got it from mentioned dealer for 700€. I've met another previous owner, who told me, when he owned this amp in the 80's, he was a studio guitarist for the NDR (northern german broadcasting network) and he lended it to Steve Lukather for a few months, who aparently loved it and bought one himself. This dealer i mentioned above didn't know about this.
-I have been offered 2000€, which should be about 1700 pounds.


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## AlvisX

They're basically like a fender reverb head ...showman/bandmaster. Really not that bad sounding if you crank 'em 

I rewired my Artiste 50 to a Bassman/45 preamp quite a long time ago .
I dont really recommend such actions ....but it works for me .In fact, it's one of my favorite workhorse heads

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2iaboNwQ8"]Modified Marshall Artiste / Alvin Youngblood Hart - YouTube[/ame]


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