Mark Knopfler

In this photo, Mark Knopfler can be seen playing a Fender Stratocaster Mark Knopfler Signature guitar.

Mark Knopfler is well-known for using the Soldano SLO 100 100-Watt Tube Guitar Amplifier, especially in live performances. In a performance featured on Max Jansson's YouTube video, "Mark Knopfler - What it is - Parkinson - BBC," he is seen using this amplifier. Notably, his use of the SLO 100 reportedly influenced Eric Clapton to adopt it as well.

In the first Dire Straits album, he uses a Hot Cake as booster and a Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer as compressor. The 80s version has a Mid Lift switch (the later versions change for Presence potenciometer, but has basically the same effect).

The speculation that Mark Knopfler used the Marshall JTM45 in the studio has spread to many forums across the web, but validation is difficult to prove. The Mark Knopfler Guitar Site article Mark Knopfler’s JTM 45 Marshall amp of Money for Nothing and Brothers in Arms presents an image of the JTM45 amp and cab assumed to be the same used on recording of both albums as referenced in Producer Guy "Dr. Fletch" Fletchers recording diaries with the photo.

Unfortunately, the diary entry from Dr. Flecth currently presents a 404 error.

This guitar was one of Marks many Pensa-Suhr signature guitars in the late 80s, early 90s. He gave a couple of them to his long-time friend Eric Clapton. This is one of them

At :48s in this video, you can just make out an Imperial Tone King center stage.

At 0:51 in this 2010 video for "Hill Farmer's Blues," Mark Knopfler can be seen using a Reinhardt The Storm 33 amplifier.

In this photo, Mark Knopfler can be seen playing a Gibson Les Paul Standard '59 guitar.

In this photo, Mark Knopfler can be seen playing a Vintage 1960's Danelectro guitar in a live performance. This guitar is used mostly for slide performance, and Knopfler is noted to play Donegan's Gone and Corned Beef City.

At 9:41 story of Mark's National Style 0 starts. At 13:47 you will see the picture of the guitar. Everybody knows (well... like to think so) Romeo And Juliet song. So you know what i am talking about :)

He got this resonator guitar in Wales, he borrowed the money for it. Actually, the guy next to him in the video (Steve), sold this guitar to him.

Between 1978 and 1979, on the first tours with the original Dire Straits setup, Mark Knopfler used only two effect devices on stage: the Morley volume pedal, and the green MXR Analog Delay. Mark used the MXR not so much for the long repetetive delays like on the intro of Down to the waterline (this was a Space Echo from the mixing desk) but rather for short slap back echoes that made his guitar sound thicker and fatter.

The old MXR delay used some now obsolete components that gave the pedal a really unique sound, extremely warm and fat, however with some noticable noise. A key element for the early Dire Straits live sound.

In "Money For Nothing", Mark uses a wah set almost wide open. You can definitely hear it in live recordings.

Vintage Guitar writes in this article "In crafting his subtle guitar sound, Mark Knopfler relied on one of the most basic musical elements – volume. And the lack of it. From his early days with Dire Straits, he employed a volume pedal, the most simple of guitar 'effects.' He used it, however, in a way never intended."

Mark Knopfler started to play Music Man amps around September 1978. These amps were used for all live gigs from then on until the end of the Making Movies On Location tour in 1981. The Music Man amp was used on some studio recordings from this era, probably also on Making Movies, but it was most likely not used on the first album, and neither on Communiqué (here amps borrowed by Robert Palmer, probably Fenders, were used).

This is the original Silvertone 1452 model, introduced in 1966 and retired in 1968. In an interview, Mark said: "I got into these guitars in a big way through knowing Mike Henderson. The last time I played with him in a Nashville club, women danced on the tables.”

Mark used this in the studio for Boom, like that (Shangri-La 2004), Stand up guy (Shangri-La 2004), Don't crash the ambulance (Shangri-La 2004). On the Shangri-La tour in 2005, he used it on stage to play Boom, like that.

In this photo, Mark is using one of his Fender Telecasters.

According to this article from Open Culture Mark plays a Super Solid II. In Guitar Stories, at 0:13 minute mark, Knopfler explains the guitar. He received this guitar from his father when he was 15 years old. He actually couldn't afford an amplifier, so he played through the family radio. This guitar was bought for 50 pounds in 1964.

It was Mark's main guitar from 1977 until 1979. The guitar was used on the Dire Straits (1978) and Communiqué (1979) albums. And you can see it in the videos of Sultans of swing, Wild west end, Lady writer and on various live shows like for example Rockpalast 1979.

Mark does not have this guitar anymore, it was auctioned for a charity.

''But notable effects over the years are a Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer compressor (1980, early Dire Straits) and a Crowther Hotcake overdrive''

This was one of Mark Knopfler's main guitars in the early 80s. He had three Seymour Duncans instead of the original pickups. There was one knob for volume one knob for tone and three on/off switches for each pickup.

In this video at 5:43 while he is holding the guitar you can see the body and neck and Schecter decal.

it has now been made official mark knopfler is using kemper on his live dates.

Mark Knopfler is seen using a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, likely a Deluxe I or II, in a screenshot from a 2007 AVO Sessions show in Basel. The amplifier in the photo features a knob panel, distinguishing it from a 112 HRD cab, and lacks the narrower nameplate characteristic of the Deluxe III model.

In this image Mark is seen in action with his Gibson SG.

Mark Knopfler has described the Crate VC 5212 as an essential component of his recording setup, highlighting its regular use in creating records. This insight is supported by a user-uploaded photo on Equipboard.

"I always use D'Addario strings on everything, acoustic and electric. I play EXL110 Nickel Wound 10-46 and in 30 years, I've never had a bad string on a guitar."

"I've always wanted a '58 Les Paul but at that time I couldn't afford it. My father said to me that there's no problem in waiting for the good things in life." This is what Mark had to say about the Les Paul. Gibson had announced a limited run of 50 guitars handsigned by Mark himself.

This amp was a Fender Vibrolux from the early 60’s from the brown-tolex era. Fender called this model 6G11 for first revision, or 6G11-A for the second revision. The brown Vibrolux is a really wonderful amp with about 30 watts from two 6L6 tubesit has enough power to be played in a band with drums and bass. It has one 12” speaker an Oxford 12L6 or 12M6 and a tremolo effects.

Mark played this amp live in 1977 and early in 1978, there is only a limited number of live pictures from 1977 and most do not show any amps. We have the following sources from this period that mention the Vibrolux. First Knopfler himself said in a an interview that “Sultans of Swing” was first written in open tuning on a National steel guitar, but it was totally changed when he got his Strat and played it through the Vibrolux.

Source: https://direstraitsblog.com/blog/

In this Instagram photo, Mark Knopfler is seen playing a Gibson SG Original, highlighting its use in his performances.

2-weeks into the 2019 Local Hero tour, longtime Mark Knopfler producer Guy "Dr. Fletch" Fletcher confirmed the use of Kemper Profiler amps in his 13th May 2019 - Cologne diary entry.

Mark’s long-serving guitar tech, Glenn Saggers along with Mark (when he wasn’t in Edinburgh with me preparing the Local Hero musical) has devoted much of his time in the past 6 months to recreating Mark’s unique sounds has done an amazing job. This switch from ‘real’ amps to digital devices is not for the feint-hearted and it wasn’t without its doubters.

The diary entry included an image of 2 rackmounted Kemper Profiler PowerRack 600-Watt Profiling Amps.

In this photo Mark is seen with Jack Sonni using the same Steinberg GL2!