Help me get a guitar amp for Mark Knopfler sound

Question

I play Mark's "clawhammer" fingerstyle and have a Les Paul R8, but don't have any amps.

I like Mark's solo career more than his Dire Straits era, and seek a sound close to that. Think about songs like "Speedway at Nazareth", "I dug up a diamond", "Song for Sonny Liston", etc.

To my knowing, Mark usually plays his Les Pauls with a Reinhardt Talyn, Talon or Commet, which are based around Marshall JTM and JCM.

I play for my leasure and seek a tube amp with an appropriate apartment volume, which can also sound good quiet. Here are some amps I thought about:

Marshall Astoria - Can go to 5w and reduce volume with the looper level. Has bass and treble boost for low volumes. Sounds like a mix of vintage and modern Marshall amps.

Marshall SV20/ SC20 - can go to 5w. Should be somewhere in the ballpark of Mark's amps.

Victory Sheriff/Duchess - should be voiced around Marshall, and have a super low wattage settings.

Morgan mvp23 - can to down up to 0.25w. A mix of British and American voicing. Not sure it'll get dirty enough.

Friedman Pink Taco/ Friedman Dirty Shirley - I liked their sound, but afraid the 20w will be too much.

Fender Bassbreaker 15 - sounds marshall-ish, and good at low volumes.

Mesa Boogie California - no Marshall voicing, but I liked its sound. It can also be reduced to 2w.

I wonder which of those you find mostly approprite for the task?

As for pedals - do I need one? I always had the impression that Mark is being plugged directly into the amp (volume pedal not included), without any overdrive/distortions. I read somewhere that Mark used a HotCake not extensivly.

P.S

Since I seek a relatively low volume, I wonfer if a clean fender amp + several stacked dirt pedals (like a Warthog with a Tube Screamer) will give me a similar results.

Answer 1

I don't have an exact answer to your question but I can share some thoughts:

I like Mark's solo career more than his Dire Straits era, and seek a sound close to that. Think about songs like "Speedway at Nazareth", "I dug up a diamond", "Song for Sonny Liston", etc.

AFAIK, "Speedway" is played with the Pensa, not with the Les Paul

Mesa Boogie California - no Marshall voicing, but I liked its sound. It can also be reduced to 2w.

In his 2019 tour, Knopfler has been using Kemper profiling amps, but in the past I've heard him mention the Mesa Boogies

Marshall SV20/ SC20 - can go to 5w. Should be somewhere in the ballpark of Mark's amps.

A 20W amp is still quite loud for bedroom tones. I own a Marshall Origin 20C, and I can't overdrive it without killing the neighbours (even when I bring the power down to 5W). On the other hand, I tried the SV5C and wasn't too impressed with the tone. Personally, I don't see much correlation between the Marshall sound and Knopfler's tone, but that's just me.

As for pedals - do I need one? I always had the impression that Mark is being plugged directly into the amp (volume pedal not included), without any overdrive/distortions. I read somewhere that Mark used a HotCake not extensivly.

Knopfler uses at least a volume pedal (you can see him using in "Song for Sonny Liston" in the Roadrunning Live DVD). It wouldn't suprise me if he also used at least a reverb and potentially a compressor. I suspect he uses a compressor when he plays clean (but he uses his strat for that). However, if you're talking exclusively about overdrives, I've never heard him talking about an O/D pedal. He seems to rely purely on his amps for the tone.

I wonfer if a clean fender amp + several stacked dirt pedals (like a Warthog with a Tube Screamer) will give me a similar results.

You might get "similar" results, but it would be hard to nail the exact tone.

This question is so specific that you might be better off asking in a forum for Mark Knopfler enthusiasts. I can point you to a couple ;)