1972 MARSHALL Artiste 2040

This has the more sought-after hand-wired point-to-point board: it’s a relatively simple job to convert this to a Plexi-style circuit. As a result, these rare amps are getting even rarer. It’s in good condition and everything appears to be original internally, aside from the reverb transformer which has been replaced with the correct Marshall part – it comes with the original vinyl cover.

At some point it’s had an extra pot added for Master Volume – it’s been checked over by our tech and given the thumbs up – it works well so has been left in place. The amp is in excellent working order. 

Artistes were produced from 1971-1978 and are not common, especially these hand-wired models. They’re not a typical Marshall – more Fender-ish in sound, but with huge amounts of grunt and great break-up. Sounds amazing with a Tele – not a bad reverb either – have heard them described as being like a Fender Showman/Bandmaster, though the reverb’s not as pronounced as a Fender. One thing’s for sure – it’s got bags of tone and hefty bottom end – sounds great when cranked-up and takes pedals well.

This amp has seen some action and has Mojo aplenty: has scuffs and damage to the tolex and and there’s minor damage to the speaker cloth (see detailed photos below), but none of this affects the amp’s performance which is awesome. 

It has the original Celestion Greenback speakers, is fiendishly loud and capable of a huge variety of tones (and hell you could even play bass through it too).

The photos were taken before servicing, so some components may be changed.

Please note that it is an original UK 240v model and will require a step-up transformer to operate in the USA/Canada (available online).