Marshall Amps have today announced that they will be launching this year’s eagerly-anticipated Ultimate Band Contest on 1st July 2012.

As part of their 50thanniversary celebrations, Marshall will be offering bands a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take centre stage at Download Festival 2013.

Title sponsors, Marshall, Lick Library and Smokehead Whisky, together with Download, Kerrang! and Metropolis Group will elevate the winning band’s status with a prime slot at Download 2013 and a year’s full endorsement from Marshall Amps for the winning band’s guitarists and bass player to take their place alongside greats like Slash and Jimi Hendrix.

Not only will they have Marshall Artist support and loan of equipment for a year but there will also be a collection of other goodies up for grabs, including the much desired Marshall Fridge, Marshall Amplifier for the Best Guitarist, an Eden Bass Amp for the Best Bassist and a Natal Snare Drum for the Best Drummer.

The top five shortlisted bands will be given the opportunity to perform live at the renowned Marshall Theatre in Milton Keynes, UK, in November 2012.

Following the huge success of the previous years’ winners, The Royal Cartel (pictured) and Sons of Icarus, Marshall Amps’ Managing Director Jonathon Ellery said: “This year is our 50th Anniversary, so it is more important than ever for us to showcase the rock sound powering through our beautiful Amps.

“Given the success of last year’s competition, we are hoping that this year’s contest will be bigger and better than ever, and we’re really excited about seeing some new talent coming through.”

Lead singer and guitarist of The Royal Cartel, Markus Flaherty, said, “As a winner of Marshall UBC 2011, the platform that the competition gave us was incredible. With support from the team at Marshall HQ to the increased downloads from iTunes, it’s given us the confidence and recognition that we’ve worked so hard to achieve.

“We’ve been working even harder this year as the opportunity to play at this year’s download will be the icing on Marshall Amp’s 50th birthday cake!”

The Ultimate Band Contest will be open for business on 1st July, and bands can enter by submitting either a live video recording or a music video of their band in action. Entrants are invited to upload their videos at www.marshallubc.com

For all the latest competition news, follow Marshall Amps on Twitter at @MarshallUBC or ‘like’ their page on Facebook by searching ‘MarshallUBC’ where you can also view photographs of previous year’s winners.