Best Knopfler Pickups?

[Rschan.Ziar]

Hey,
I really dig the Knopfler sound and wanted to know which pickups kinda' produce that sound. We're talking about an HSS strat (since Mark both used an LP and a Strat)

Would love to see your thoughts on this.

Cheers!

 

[vinta9e]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

His Pensa-Suhr came with EMGs.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

his classic tones would be antiquity II surfers, his pensa guitars had emgs as mentioned. he has some real 58 and 59 les pauls and some r9's. the old ones have paf's im sure and the reissues have some kind of paf type pup from the tones i hear. youll never get his old strat tones, pensa tones, and lp tones from one guitar. if i were doing a hss strat for knopfler stuff id get two antiquity II surfers and put a custom/59 hybrid in the bridge with auto split in the middle/bridge position

 

[always SD]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

no hss for Knopfler
pensa Suhr =emg sa sa 85
Schecter (like the red strat)

signature fender strat with texas special pickups

fender amp and SOldano in the 90's or before too

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

no hss for Knopfler
pensa Suhr =emg sa sa 85

Yes, Knopfler did use an HSS with EMG's.

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

& a Floyd, who'd've thunk it?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

it was the 80's ya know

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

For the neck and middle, There are also the BKP Sultans.
always SD is right ON.
He goes between TONS of guitars but he usually has the pensa suhr out so SASA85.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

You would be hard pressed to get any closer to the classic Mark Knopfler recorded sounds than with and common or garden all true single coil strat. A set of ssl-1s or really anything similar will get you what you need in spades. The difficult bit is HOW he plays and touches the strings with his fingers/nails. A nice compressor helps too.
Ok he used a lester on money for nothing and a bunch of other tunes, but when i think of Mark Knopfler and what makes his sound iconic, i always think of a vintage style strat.

 

[leevc5]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

He finger picks, IMO 70+% of his sound is in his hands, 20% amp and 10% pups. Do you have the first two covered?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

A vintage early 60s style wind for strats. But with an hss you will NEVER get his clucky strat tone as often you need the bridge and middle selected.

if you're after his Brothers in Arms Les Paul tone, then buy yourself a set of Tim Shaw pickups.....but in an HSS you wont get the neck pickup which is very important.

 

[Rschan.Ziar]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

his classic tones would be antiquity II surfers, his pensa guitars had emgs as mentioned. he has some real 58 and 59 les pauls and some r9's. the old ones have paf's im sure and the reissues have some kind of paf type pup from the tones i hear. youll never get his old strat tones, pensa tones, and lp tones from one guitar. if i were doing a hss strat for knopfler stuff id get two antiquity II surfers and put a custom/59 hybrid in the bridge with auto split in the middle/bridge position

I like this one!

 

[freefrog]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

There's at least one answer per album... and it's never simple: the Suhr had a special wiring to make it sound closer to a Strat in 2d position... The Schecter had Quarter Pound looking SC's (Schecter F500T) but the sound of these pickups was supposedly modified by the big metallic pickguard causing eddy currents... and so on.

Tons of infos here: http://www.mk-guitar.com

One of his Schecter Strats was fitted with SSL1's, FWIW.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

Read this: http://www.mk-guitar.com/2013/09/30...-dimarzio-fs-1-pickup-in-the-middle-position/

I know Mark favored the Fender Texas Specials in more recent years.

Here's a cool video:

 

[Mincer]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

I am really thinking that any vintage-voiced singles would get you there, providing you pick the strings with your giant thumb. He has used a lot of gear over the years, but is usually pictured with Strats these days.

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

BKP Apache neck and middle, along with a Duncan StagMag in the bridge!!

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

BKP Apache neck and middle, along with a Duncan StagMag in the bridge!!

Why the Apache when the Sultans exist?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

You would be hard pressed to get any closer to the classic Mark Knopfler recorded sounds than with and common or garden all true single coil strat. A set of ssl-1s or really anything similar will get you what you need in spades. The difficult bit is HOW he plays and touches the strings with his fingers/nails. A nice compressor helps too.
Ok he used a lester on money for nothing and a bunch of other tunes, but when i think of Mark Knopfler and what makes his sound iconic, i always think of a vintage style strat.

Absolutely. If Mark Knopfler plugged in my guitar with SSL-1's he'd sound exactly like Mark Knopfler.

If I plugged in Mark Knopfler's guitar I'd sound exactly like me.

 

[Rschan.Ziar]

Re: Best Knopfler Pickups?

So the SL-1s are like the most Knopfler sounding pickups? And also: didn't David from Pink Floyd also use SL-1s?