Old Marshall Artiste 50 - any mods, tips or tricks?

Exorcist

My dad is looking to get rid of his old Marshall Artiste 50 - and I expect if I wanted it he would give me a very reasonable price. I used to use it about 25 years ago, with an old distortion pedal (I can't remember which) in a grunge band. Did the job fine. However, older and wiser, its a bit.. meh.. I heard they could be Modded into Plexi circuits, and wondered if it was worth the effort, or if anyone had any experience with them.. or if I should just avoid it. Anyone have one/used one/modded one or have any thought on them?
Cheers!!

lukedlb

I’ve had a few artistes and apart from their substantial weight, they play fine as is. Just run one channel into the next with a short patch cable and adjust to taste. Some great Marshall tones can be had, plus the reverb and clarity of the bright channel. 
If it is a 71-73 p2p model, there is an easy mod to get more of a jtm45 out of it. 
Unfortunately, some daft nuts have been asking plexi prices for amps that went for £400 only four years ago. They’re pretty amps with a tone somewhere between a fender twin and a Marshall. 

matone

Agreed ,you see people asking silly prices for them now! They look good tho`....

Exorcist

cheers guys, maybe I'll give it another go. 

ICBM

If it’s a PCB one you won’t be able to do much in the way of mods - although removing or reducing the value of the ludicrously oversized treble-pass caps for the volume controls will help, especially on the bass/organ channel.

If it’s a turret-board one you could theoretically rebuild it as some sort of hybrid Plexi circuit, but my honest opinion is not to - if you want that, buy a Bluesbreaker reissue. I’ve done a couple in the past, with oddly different results... I wouldn’t do another.

Personally I would just sell it while there are still people who want one.

jeztone2

I had an early one. They are really good pedal platform amps. Big round clean tones. But yeah, prices are getting silly now. 

MattBanshee

I had a good play through one whilst babysitting a studio one weekend. Humbuckers in a Tele and lots of fuzz, and it was doomy heaven.

57Deluxe

Exorcist

Thanks guys. I have watched that video - I don't remember my Dad's breaking up quite like that - but it has been a long time!! I'll see what he says, he might just stick it on the bay with a low start and see what happens... I can't decide if I want it or not. I think like @Jeztone said, its a pretty good pedal platform...  hmm... Then again, I do want a nice Plexi 7.. ah the curse of GAS!!