This research article proposes the speed control of a separately excited DC motor (SEDM) in the constant torque region. The novelty of this article lies in the application of artificial neural network-based model reference controller (MRC) for the speed control of SEDM. This paper also discusses and compares the speed control systems of SEDM using PI-controlled and fuzzy logic-controlled chopper circuit with MRC. The entire system has been modeled using MATLAB 7.0/SIMULINK toolbox. It has been observed that chopper-controlled speed control system could be eliminated by the use of MRC and the performance of the proposed system is comparable with speed control system using chopper circuit.