The Fender Twin and Twin Reverb are guitar amplifiers made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation . The Twin was introduced in 1952, two years before Fender began selling Stratocaster electric guitars . The amps are known for their characteristically clean tone.
107-574: The Twin has seen a number of revisions since its introduction, both internal and external, with its designs sometimes varying greatly from one year to the next. Several variations on the amp's original design have been produced through the years, including the Twin Reverb, the Super Twin, the Twin Reverb II, the Twin Reverb '65 Reissue and the Twin Reverb 68’ Custom Reissues. The Cyber Twin, which combined
214-620: A virtuoso , Knopfler is a fingerstyle guitarist and was ranked 27th on Rolling Stone ' s list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". With Dire Straits, Knopfler sold between 100 million and 120 million records. A four-time Grammy Award winner, Knopfler is the recipient of the Edison Award , the Steiger Award and the Ivor Novello Award , as well as holding three honorary doctorate degrees in music from universities in
321-525: A Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by Knopfler, Clapton, Brian May , and Jimmy Page , which was to be auctioned for £20,000 to raise the money for a children's hospice, was lost when being shipped. It vanished after being posted from London to Leicestershire , England." Parcelforce , the company responsible, agreed to pay £15,000 for its loss. Knopfler released his fifth solo studio-album, Kill to Get Crimson , on 14 September 2007 in Germany, 17 September in
428-536: A black grillcloth was even fitted on some production runs. During the silverface period, the Twin Reverb's chassis and AA769 circuit was shared by the Dual Showman Reverb , effectively producing the Twin Reverb in a head form, although the matching speaker cabinet for the Dual Showman Reverb sported a pair of 15-inch JBL speakers rather than 12-inch. In 1972 a master volume was added, then in late '73 it
535-528: A certain amount of stress, obviously. You've got to really dig deep sometimes to keep it working. I think Mark said – and I hope I'm quoting him correctly here – but he said that success is great, but fame is what comes out of the exhaust pipe of a car. It's something you don't really want". Dire Straits remain one of the most popular British rock bands as well as one of the world's most commercially successful bands, with worldwide album sales of more than 120 million. Knopfler's first solo album, Golden Heart ,
642-506: A clean sound, and it is especially known for the quality of its built-in spring reverb. Two transition prototype 1963 Twin Reverb amps have been found in both brown and blonde Tolex covering. The brown one still had the harmonic tremolo and early Vibroverb reverb circuitry with an extra tube and rear dwell control. The blonde Twin Reverb Leo gave to steel player Red Rhodes for testing purposes at
749-403: A compilation, Private Investigations: The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler was released, consisting of material from most of Dire Straits' studio albums and Knopfler's solo and soundtrack material. The album was released in two editions, as a single CD (with a grey cover) and as a double CD (with the cover in blue), and was well received. The only previously unreleased track on the album
856-568: A degree in English at the University of Leeds . In April 1970, while living in Leeds, he recorded a demo disc of an original song he had written, "Summer's Coming My Way". The recording included Knopfler (guitar and vocals), Steve Phillips (second guitar), Dave Johnson (bass), and Paul Granger (percussion). Johnson, Granger, and vocalist Mick Dewhirst played with Knopfler in a band called Silverheels; Phillips
963-735: A lecturer at Loughton College in Essex – a position he held for three years. Throughout this time, he continued performing with local pub bands, including the Café Racers. By the mid-1970s, Knopfler devoted much of his musical energies to his group, the Café Racers. His brother David moved to London, where he shared a flat with John Illsley , a guitarist who changed over to playing bass guitar. In April 1977, Mark moved out of his flat in Buckhurst Hill and moved in with David and John. The three began playing music together, and soon Mark invited John to join
1070-507: A more upward angle, promoting better distribution of their output to an audience when placed on a low stage. In 1968 the Fender amplifier line switched from the original black faceplate to a new brushed aluminum faceplate with light blue labels (except the Bronco, which has red) and changed the color of the grillcloth from silver grey to silver with sparkling blue threads embedded within it, ushering in
1177-401: A number of changes over the years, both cosmetically and electronically. The original version was an all-tube combo amplifier with dual 12" speakers and two 6L6 tubes for a rated output of 25 watts . After the preceding looks of the early 1950s (TV front from 1950 to 51/2; wide panel '52–54), Leo Fender changed the cabinet design again, this time opting for no extra wood on the front of
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#17328511662521284-430: A number of times. During the 1960s, he formed and joined several bands and listened to singers like Elvis Presley and guitarists Chet Atkins , Scotty Moore , B. B. King , Django Reinhardt , Hank Marvin , and James Burton . At the age of 16, he made a local television appearance as part of a harmony duo, with his classmate Sue Hercombe. In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at Harlow College , Knopfler
1391-569: A pictorial diary of the making of the album on his website. The album was released on 14 September the following year and Knopfler subsequently undertook an extensive tour across Europe and America. The album met with moderate success on the charts (much of it in Europe) reaching No. 1 only in Norway but peaking in the Top 5 in most major European countries (Germany, Italy, The Netherlands). The album peaked at No. 2 on
1498-470: A redress of the '65 reissue dubbed the ' 68 Custom Twin Reverb . It came with silverface cosmetics, reverb and vibrato on both channels, altered negative feedback circuitry, Celestion Type V speakers and a "Custom" channel (channel 1) which utilizes a modified tone stack derived from the Fender Bassman . The "vintage" channel (channel 2) is meant to be the typical Twin sound. The output remains at 85W, unlike
1605-549: A rest". In October 1988, a compilation album, Money for Nothing , was released and reached number one in the United Kingdom. In 1989, Knopfler formed the Notting Hillbillies , a band at the other end of the commercial spectrum. It leaned heavily towards American roots music – folk , Blues and country music . The band members included keyboardist Guy Fletcher , with Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips . For both
1712-455: A return to Blackface era cosmetics albeit with a different, channel-switching cascading gain circuit with a more modern mid-range voicing and without the 'traditional' vibrato. The Twin Reverb II was produced until 1986, and was available as a head (amplifier alone) or 2×12 combo. The circuits for this series of 1982 Fender amplifiers were designed by amp guru Paul Rivera; the 60w Concert amplifier
1819-646: A separate gain channel and a switchable overdrive on the clean, in 1987. It featured a dual output switch, allowing the user to select either 25 watts or 100 watts of output. The Twin was designed for maximum versatility for live or studio use with features like speaker jacks with selectable impedance, Low-z/XLR output, a "Power Amp Thru" feature that bypassed the preamp circuit and a buffered effects loop. Both clean and overdrive channels could be activated simultaneously and reverb could be turned on/off for each channel. Earlier Twin Reverb amps were known among musicians to be best suited for loud, "clean" tones. The "Red Knob Twin"
1926-543: A solo career after the band dissolved, and is now an independent artist. Knopfler was born in Glasgow , and raised in Blyth , near Newcastle . After graduating from the University of Leeds and working for three years as a college lecturer, Knopfler co-founded Dire Straits with his younger brother, David Knopfler . The band recorded six albums, including Brothers in Arms (1985), one of
2033-470: A terrible strain on everybody, emotionally and physically. We were changed by it." This drove the band into the ground, and ultimately led to the group's final dissolution in 1995. Following the tour, Knopfler took some time off from the music business. In 1993, he received an honorary music doctorate from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Two more Dire Straits albums were released, both live albums. On
2140-712: A tube amp with a digital processor, was introduced in January 2001. Many notable musicians have used Fender Twin amplifiers, including Mark Knopfler , David Gilmour , Chuck Berry , Buddy Holly , George Tomsco of The Fireballs , Mike Oldfield , The Beatles (1968 Twin Reverb amps using the AC568 circuit), Jimi Hendrix , Eric Clapton , Peter Green , Jeremy Spencer , Danny Kirwan , Keith Richards , Mick Taylor , Steve Jones ( Sex Pistols ), Jerry Garcia ( Grateful Dead ), Eric Johnson , Joe Bonamassa , Junior Brown , Kurt Cobain and Tommy Emmanuel . The Fender Twin has gone through
2247-513: A twin- pick-up Höfner Super Solid for £50 (equivalent to £1,454 in 2023). In 1963, when he was 13, he took a Saturday job at the Newcastle Evening Chronicle newspaper earning six shillings and sixpence. Here he met the ageing poet Basil Bunting , who was a copy editor. In 2015, Knopfler wrote a track in tribute to him. At this time, Knopfler got around the country largely by hitchhiking , and also hitched through Europe
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#17328511662522354-458: A water bug, with slender wispy legs. The tube generated vibrato oscillator pulsates the neon light, which varies the resistance on the resistive element. That variable resistance is applied to the audio signal on the Vibrato channel, creating a pulsating increase and decrease of that channel's volume. The speed controls varies the rate of the oscillator. The depth control limits the amount of application
2461-862: Is All the Roadrunning , a duet with country music singer Emmylou Harris , which was followed in 2006 by an album of duets of the same name. Released in April 2006, All the Roadrunning reached No. 1 in Denmark and Switzerland, No. 2 in Norway and Sweden, No. 3 in Germany, The Netherlands and Italy, No. 8 in Austria and UK, No. 9 in Spain, No. 17 in the United States ( Billboard Top 200 Chart), No. 25 in Ireland, and No. 41 in Australia. All
2568-924: Is 16 ohms). This model is referred to as the "Evil Twin". In 2002 it was replaced by a new Pro Tube "Twin Amp" including tremolo. This version is very similar in cosmetics with the previous one but it introduces, for the first time, a full tube tremolo in a modern twin amp. The front panel contains (left to right): a single input, clean channel controls (volume, bright switch, treble, middle, bass), distorted channel controls (gain, treble, middle, bass, volume, channel select), and shared controls (reverb, tremolo speed and intensity, presence). The rear panel contains power and stand by switches, output power switch (100W or 25W), effect send level, effect loop switch, return level, preamp out, power amp in, footswitch jack, tube bias adjustment and balancing, external speaker jack, main speaker jack. The footswitch has four buttons that allow to select
2675-611: Is a tribute to a Leeds sculptor and artist named Harry Phillips (father of Steve Phillips ); and "Lions", "Wild West End", and "Eastbound Train" were all drawn from Knopfler's early days in the capital. On its initial release in October 1978, the album Dire Straits received little fanfare in the UK, but when "Sultans of Swing" was released as a single, it became a chart hit in the Netherlands and album sales took off – first across Europe, and then in
2782-452: Is constructed with a printed circuit board and new 1/4" phone jacks for the footswitch pedal replacing the older RCA design of the vintage originals. Fender's original intention was to issue only 300 of this model, but it was continued due to its success in the market. The '65 Reissue is also available with a single 15-inch speaker, called the '65 Twin Custom 15 . In 2013, Fender introduced
2889-465: Is dehumanizing." Knopfler would spend two years recovering from the experience, which had taken a toll on his creative and personal life. Since the break-up of Dire Straits, Knopfler has shown no interest in reforming the group. However, keyboardist Guy Fletcher has been associated with almost every piece of Knopfler's solo material to date, while Danny Cummings has also contributed frequently, notably to four of Knopfler's recent solo album releases: All
2996-543: Is that production was temporarily interrupted during these months as they coincide with the debut of Fender's new "flagship" or top of the line amplifier, the Fender Vibrasonic -Amp. Nonetheless, Fender Musical Instrument Co. kept the image of the Twin-Amp before potential consumers during this short period. The image of the Twin-Amp in the 1960 Fender Catalog has been the subject of considerable scrutiny. The re-emergence of
3103-481: The On Location tour of Europe, North America, and Oceania. In September 1982, the group's fourth studio album Love Over Gold was released. This featured the tracks " Private Investigations ", " Telegraph Road ", " Industrial Disease ", "It Never Rains", and the title track of the album, " Love Over Gold ". Shortly after the album's release, Pick Withers left the band. In early 1983, with Love Over Gold still in
3210-694: The Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, BC , the tea was replaced with whisky as a "last show of tour" sort of joke. In February 2009, Knopfler gave an intimate solo concert at the Garrick Club in London. Knopfler had recently become a member of the exclusive gentlemen's club for men of letters . In 2010, Knopfler appeared on the newest Thomas Dolby release, the EP Amerikana . Knopfler performed on
3317-492: The best-selling albums in history . After Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler began a solo career, and has produced ten solo albums to date. He has composed and produced film scores for nine films, including Local Hero (1983), Cal (1984), The Princess Bride (1987), Wag the Dog (1997) and Altamira (2016). He has produced albums for Tina Turner , Bob Dylan , and Randy Newman . Described by Classic Rock as
Fender Twin - Misplaced Pages Continue
3424-576: The "brownface" era, its brown control panel was matched with light brown ("tan") or standard brown tolex cabinets with grill cloth schemes typically in tweed style ("gold stripe") or yellow ("wheat"). At the time of its introduction, the Vibrasonic-Amp displaced the Fender Twin as the company's new top-of-the-line or "flagship" model. This elevated status was short-lived however, as the new high-powered 6G8 blonde Twin-Amp appeared in mid 1960. The Vibrasonic
3531-518: The 1982 Richard Gere film An Officer and a Gentleman . There were frequent personnel changes within Dire Straits from 1980 onwards, with Mark Knopfler and John Illsley the only members to remain throughout the group's 18-year existence. In 1980 whilst the recording sessions for Making Movies were taking place, tensions between the Knopfler brothers reached a point where David Knopfler decided to leave
3638-541: The 4×10 Concert-Amp, featured a larger interleaved output transformer designed to minimize distortion and maximize clean headroom in the output stage. Unlike the Concert-Amp however, the Vibrasonic-Amp was the first production Fender amplifier to use a speaker made by the James B. Lansing company. JBL speakers were considered superior to the usual Jensen speakers in terms of their power handling capacity and frequency response. Only
3745-471: The 6L6GC type. They use six preamp tubes, consisting of four 7025/12AX7 types and two 12AT7 types. All Twin Reverbs feature a solid-state rectifier. The Fender Twin Reverb has two independent channels, labeled Normal and Vibrato. The control have black-skirted knobs numbered from 1 to 10. The Normal channel has two inputs, a "bright" switch (which compensates for loss of brightness through the volume control when
3852-609: The Billboard European Album chart and at No. 5 on the Billboard Rock Album chart. Knopfler's solo live performances can be characterised as relaxed—almost workmanlike. He uses very little stage production, other than some lighting effects to enhance the music's dynamics. He has been known to sip tea on stage during live performances. Richard Bennett , who has been playing with him on tour since 1996, has also joined in drinking tea with him on stage. On 31 July 2005, at
3959-477: The Café Racers. Dire Straits' first demos were recorded in three sessions in 1977, with David Knopfler as rhythm guitarist, John Illsley as bass guitarist, and Pick Withers as drummer. On 27 July 1977, they recorded the demo tapes of five songs: "Wild West End", " Sultans of Swing ", "Down to the Waterline", "Sacred Loving" (a David Knopfler song), and "Water of Love". They later recorded "Southbound Again", "In
4066-493: The Dire Straits years. The concerts also featured The Notting Hillbillies with Brendan Croker and Steve Phillips. At these four concerts (three of the four were at the Shepherd's Bush, the fourth at Beaulieu on the south coast) they were joined by Jimmy Nail , who provided backing vocals for Knopfler's 2002 composition Why Aye Man . Also in 2002, Knopfler released his third solo album, The Ragpicker's Dream . In March 2003 he
4173-549: The Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb in September 2019. The amp aims to digitally recreate the 85 watt output of the original Twin tube amp and weighs a mere 35 lbs. Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995. He pursued
4280-452: The G12-80) speakers to insure optimum live efficiency. Today, the famous 5F8 series Fender Twin amps, with their warmth of tone and rich rock & roll harmonic edge, command the highest price of any Fender amp ever built. The exact plight of the Twin-Amp during the months between January and May 1960, however, remains open to considerable speculation, debate and study. The prevailing explanation
4387-540: The Gallery", and "Six Blade Knife" for BBC Radio London —and, finally, on 9 November, made demo tapes of " Setting Me Up ", "Eastbound Train", and "Real Girl". Many of these songs reflect Knopfler's experiences in Newcastle, Leeds, and London, and were featured on their first album, the eponymous Dire Straits , which was released in the following year: "Down to the Waterline" recalled images of life in Newcastle; "In The Gallery"
Fender Twin - Misplaced Pages Continue
4494-469: The Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, California, were released as a DVD entitled Real Live Roadrunning on 14 November 2006. In addition to several of the compositions that Harris and Knopfler recorded together in the studio, Real Live Roadrunning features solo hits from both members of the duo, as well as three tracks from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits. A charity event in 2007 went wrong:
4601-1060: The Nazis. Knopfler later described his father as a Marxist agnostic. The Knopflers originally lived in the Glasgow area where Mark's younger brother David was born on 27 December 1952. Mark's older sister Ruth was born in Newcastle, where Mark's parents were married, in 1947. The family moved to Knopfler's mother's hometown of Blyth , near Newcastle , in North East England when he was seven years old. Mark had attended Bearsden Primary School in Scotland for two years; both brothers attended Gosforth Grammar School in Newcastle. Originally inspired by his uncle Kingsley's harmonica and boogie-woogie piano playing, Mark soon became familiar with many different styles of music. Although he hounded his father for an expensive Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster electric guitar just like Hank Marvin 's, he eventually bought
4708-571: The Night , released in May 1993, documented Dire Straits' final world tour. In 1995, following the release of Live at the BBC (a contractual release to Vertigo Records ), Mark Knopfler quietly dissolved Dire Straits and launched his career as a solo artist. Knopfler later recalled that, "I put the thing to bed because I wanted to get back to some kind of reality. It's self-protection, a survival thing. That kind of scale
4815-489: The Pro model. It was modified in 1957 for more volume, switching to four 5881 power tubes with the more efficient long-tailed pair phase inverter for a power increase to 80W. This "hi-powered," tweed-covered design continued into early 1960, after the other Professional Series of Fender amplifiers had made the transition to the modern brownface design. The upgraded 5F8 Twin-amp of 1957 with its complement of four military grade 5881's
4922-489: The Roadrunning (with Emmylou Harris), Kill to Get Crimson , Get Lucky and One Deep River . In October 2008 Knopfler declined a suggestion by John Illsley that the band should reform. Illsley said that a reunion would be "entirely up to Mark"; however, he also observed that Knopfler was enjoying his success as a solo artist. When asked about a possible reunion, Knopfler responded, "Oh, I don't know whether to start getting all that stuff back together again", and that
5029-588: The Roadrunning was nominated for "Best Folk Rock/Americana Album" at the 49th Grammy Awards (11 February 2007) but lost out to Bob Dylan's nomination for Modern Times . Joined by Emmylou Harris, Knopfler supported All the Roadrunning with a limited—15 concerts in Europe, 1 in Canada, and 8 in the United States—but highly successful tour of Europe and North America. Selections from the duo's performance of 28 June at
5136-481: The Silverface era. Other blackface cosmetic features were retained. The first silverface Twins used the blackface AB763 circuit until May 1968, when Fender switched to the AC568. Since the tube complement was the same, Fender just used up their stock of printed tube charts saying AB763 until they ran out. The earliest silverface Twin Reverbs, along with all other silverface models, had an aluminum frame (trim) surrounding
5243-719: The Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1983, taken from the album "Phil Everly". Knopfler had also expressed his interest writing film music, and after producer David Puttnam responded he wrote and produced the music score to the film Local Hero . The album was released in April 1983 and received a BAFTA award nomination for Best Score for a Film the following year. Alan Clark also contributed, and other Dire Straits members Illsley, Lindes and Williams played on one track, "Freeway Flyer", and Gerry Rafferty contributed lead vocals on "The Way It Always Starts". The closing track on
5350-487: The Twin Reverb-Amp in 1963. During the blackface era of Fender amplifiers from 1963 to 1967, the amps had black faceplates , black tolex covering on the cabinet, and neutral to slightly amber tinted silver sparkle grill cloth with a small ribbed rectangular pattern. The Twin now had an onboard spring reverb tank and was renamed the Twin Reverb. The Fender Twin Reverb is considered a standard model for players seeking
5457-507: The Twin-Amp in mid 1960 revealed a new aesthetic design that would become prominent among Fender's top of the line amplifiers, with the exception of the Vibrasonic-Amp. By 1961, the Bandmaster, the Bassman and the newly debuted Showman were all covered in the new look exemplified by the late 1960 Twin-Amp: blonde tolex and maroon or "oxblood" grille cloth. The Twin-Amp of this period (late 1960–1963)
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#17328511662525564-713: The UK Singles Chart for three weeks in March 1987. Knopfler wrote the music score for the film The Princess Bride , released at the end of 1987. It featured the song "Storybook Love" with Willy DeVille . Mark Knopfler also took part in a comedy skit (featured on the French and Saunders show) titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians David Gilmour , Lemmy from Motörhead, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore . Phil Taylor explained in an interview that Knopfler used Gilmour's guitar rig and managed to sound like himself when performing in
5671-430: The UK and 18 September in the United States. During the autumn of 2007 he played a series of intimate 'showcases' in various European cities to promote the album. A tour of Europe and North America followed in 2008. Continuing a pattern of high productivity through his solo career, Knopfler began work on his next studio album, entitled Get Lucky , in September 2008 with long-time bandmate Guy Fletcher, who again compiled
5778-765: The UK in early 1990 with a limited number of shows. In this low-key tour the band packed out smaller venues such as Newcastle University. In 1990, Knopfler, John Illsley, and Alan Clark performed as Dire Straits at Knebworth , joined by Eric Clapton, Ray Cooper , and guitarist Phil Palmer (who was at that time part of Eric Clapton's touring band), and in January the following year, Knopfler, John Illsley and manager Ed Bicknell decided to reform Dire Straits. Knopfler, Illsley, Alan Clark, and Guy Fletcher set about recording what turned out to be their final studio album accompanied by sidemen Phil Palmer, pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin , percussionist Danny Cummings and Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro . The follow-up to Brothers in Arms
5885-463: The United Kingdom. Knopfler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Dire Straits in 2018. Mark Freuder Knopfler was born on 12 August 1949 in Glasgow , Scotland, to an English mother, Louisa Mary (née Laidler), and a Hungarian Jewish father, Erwin Knopfler. His mother was a teacher and his father was an architect and a chess player who left his native Hungary in 1939 to flee
5992-670: The United States and Canada, and finally the UK. The group's second album, Communiqué , produced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett , followed in June 1979. Their third album, Making Movies , released in October 1980, moved towards more complex arrangements and production, which continued for the remainder of the group's career. The album included many of Mark Knopfler's most personal compositions, most notably " Romeo and Juliet " and " Tunnel of Love ", with its intro "The Carousel Waltz" by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II , which also featured in
6099-510: The Vibrasonic premiered and which gave it its name more closely resembled a Vox tremolo circuit than anything which Fender used before or after, a complex "harmonic vibrato" which created the illusion of true pitch-shifting. Two tubes (5G13 model) and later three tubes (6G13-A model) were used in the tremolo circuit alone and this perhaps explains why it was not widely used, and abandoned in the mid-1960s "blackface" amps. The 1×15 Vibrasonic, like
6206-624: The album and on the credits in the film is the instrumental " Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero " which was released as a single and became a popular live staple for Dire Straits, entering the band's repertoire from 1983 onwards. "Local Hero" was followed in 1984 by Knopfler's music scores for the films Cal (soundtrack) and Comfort and Joy , both of which also featured Terry Williams, as well as keyboardist Guy Fletcher . Also during this time Knopfler produced Bob Dylan 's Infidels album, as well as Knife by Aztec Camera . He also wrote
6313-451: The album and the tour Paul Franklin was added to the line-up on pedal steel. The Notting Hillbillies sole studio album, Missing...Presumed Having a Good Time was released in March 1990, and Knopfler then toured with the Notting Hillbillies for the remainder of that year. He further emphasised his country music influences with his 1990s collaboration with Chet Atkins , Neck and Neck , which won three Grammy awards. The Hillbillies toured
6420-580: The album was minimal). The then permanent drummer Terry Williams was released from the recording sessions after the first month and temporarily replaced by jazz session drummer Omar Hakim , who re-recorded the album's drum parts within three days before leaving for other commitments. Williams would be back in the band as a full-time member for the music videos and the 1985–1986 Brothers in Arms world tour that followed. Released in May 1985, Brothers in Arms became an international blockbuster that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and in 2006
6527-526: The album's title track . The band embarked on a 1985–1986 Brothers in Arms world tour of over 230 shows which was immensely successful. After the Brothers in Arms world tour Dire Straits ceased to work together for some time, Knopfler concentrating mainly on film soundtracks. Knopfler joined the charity ensemble Ferry Aid on " Let It Be " in the wake of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster . The track reached No. 1 on
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#17328511662526634-585: The album, like Van Morrison . On 15 September 1997, Knopfler appeared at the Music for Montserrat concert at the Royal Albert Hall , London, performing alongside artists such as Sting , Phil Collins , Elton John , Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney . In July 2002, Knopfler gave four charity concerts under the name of "Mark Knopfler and friends" with former Dire Straits members John Illsley, Chris White , Danny Cummings and Guy Fletcher, playing old material from
6741-414: The albums charts, the band released a four-song EP titled ExtendedancEPlay . Featuring the hit single " Twisting by the Pool ", this was the first output by the band that featured new drummer Terry Williams , (formerly of Rockpile and Man ). An eight month long Love over Gold Tour followed which finished with two sold-out concerts at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 22 and 23 July 1983. In March 1984
6848-454: The amp, except for the narrow top and bottom panels that hold the baffle board to the cabinet. The early models of the larger "narrow-panel" tweeds are also remarkable for their refined electronics whose circuit design incorporated dual 5U4 rectifiers in the Twin and Bassman models, another improvement given Fender's quest for a louder, cleaner amplifier. The entire line of Fender amplifiers from 1955 to 1959 (later for smaller models and Bassman)
6955-401: The band for a solo career. The remaining trio continued the album, with Roy Bittan from Bruce Springsteen 's E Street Band guesting on keyboards and session guitarist Sid McGinnis on rhythm guitar, although he was uncredited on the album. After the recording sessions were completed, keyboardist Alan Clark and Californian guitarist Hal Lindes joined Dire Straits as full-time members for
7062-450: The band members had "reached the end of the road" after the end of their final world tour in 1992, and that he was "pretty happy" when the band's run came to an end, recalling feeling "mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted" by the time Dire Straits disbanded. At the time, Illsley also said "I can openly admit to you that I really enjoyed the success of the band, I'm speaking for Mark as well, we both really enjoyed [it]. It comes with
7169-429: The channel, bypass or engage the effect loop, switch the tremolo on/off, switch the reverb on/off. The tremolo is an optocoupler signal vary tube bias tremolo that tremolo works by changing the bias to a 12AX7 pre-amp tube. By changing the operating parameters of the tube, the signal can be cut off momentarily and the brought back up. This creates the rich, pulsating tremolo effect. Curiously, it can be switched on through
7276-435: The control is set lower than about "6" on its 1–10 scale), a volume control, treble, middle and bass tone controls. The Vibrato channel has a duplication of the same controls as the normal channel, plus the addition of reverb, vibrato speed and intensity controls. Reverb is accomplished with a tube/transformer driven low impedance spring reverb tank (made by the Hammond company) or its spin-off company Accutronics. The addition of
7383-420: The cover, both with a grey Saran grill. The first production Twin Reverb models used an unusual 7355 power tube (weaker cousin to the 6L6) as with their concurrent smooth blonde, blackface Fender Showman amplifier. During this time the amplifier's output was rated at 85 watts into a 4-ohm speaker load. The circuit used is commonly known as the AB763 circuit. Fender Twin Reverb amplifiers use four output tubes, of
7490-528: The double album Alchemy Live was released, which documented the recordings of these final two live shows. It was also released in VHS video and reached number three in the UK Albums Chart , and was reissued in DVD and Blu-ray format in 2010. During 1983 and 1984, Mark Knopfler was also involved with other projects outside of Dire Straits, some of which other band members contributed towards. Knopfler and Terry Williams played on Phil Everly 's and Cliff Richard 's song " She Means Nothing To Me ", which reached
7597-476: The end of 1984 at George Martin 's AIR Studios in Montserrat with Knopfler and Neil Dorfsman producing. There were further personnel changes. Guy Fletcher joined the band as a full-time member, so the group now had two keyboardists, while second guitarist Hal Lindes left the band early on during the recording sessions and was replaced in December 1984 by Jack Sonni , a New York-based guitarist and longstanding friend of Knopfler (although Sonni's contribution to
7704-460: The factory), Altec Lansing 417-8Cs, Utahs and, in later years, CTS and Eminence models. Some Twins were fitted with EVM 12L variant speakers known as EVM 12Fs. Unlike most Electrovoice speakers, they were fitted with metal dustcovers like the JBL D-120Fs. Twin Reverb amplifiers came standard with "tilt back legs" which allowed the amplifier to be tilted at an angle backwards, so the speakers faced at
7811-412: The famous Palomino Club (North Hollywood) . Performing in the house band with band leader Gene Davis, Red played his Pedal 1000 steel and Twin Reverb live, and on some popular TV shows including Cal's Corral (I'll eat a bug! Cal Worthington), Star Route, and Country Music Time. Fender's 1963 product flyer featured a flat logo, black Tolex amp, while their 1963 full-line catalog showed a raised logo amp on
7918-677: The finest heavy duty Concert Series Jensen P12-N Alnico V blue-dome loudspeakers (conservatively rated in 1957 at only 18 watts apiece). In the day, players would rarely ever open such high-fidelity amplifiers to their distortional limits. These "high-power" tweed Twin amps would deliver peaks up to 80 plus watts of power when turned high. With such bursts of volume energy, often these top-of-the-line Jensen speakers would fail, and sometimes even burn out (smoke) voice coils. Many well used Twins have replaced speakers today. Keith Richards has used these late model, high-power Twin amps on Rolling Stones tours with his own special design Celestion Alnico (similar to
8025-421: The footswitch only. The amplifier features two 12 inch Eminence special design loudspeakers in parallel (8ohms each, 4 ohms total load). There is no output impedance switch and the total impedance of the main plus external speaker has to be 4 ohms. In 1992 Fender introduced the '65 Reissue, with blackface cosmetics and circuitry, an output rating of 85 W RMS and 8 Ω Jensen C-12K speakers. The '65 Reissue
8132-661: The global fame Dire Straits achieved in the 1980s "just got too big". In 2018, the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Knopfler did not attend the induction ceremony, however remaining members John Illsley, Guy Fletcher and Alan Clark were in attendance to accept the award on behalf of the band. In November 2021 John Illsley published his autobiography My Life in Dire Straits , in which he confirms that Knopfler has no interest in reforming Dire Straits, which he again reiterated in an interview in November 2023. He reflected that
8239-402: The only guitar available was an old acoustic with a badly warped neck that had been strung with extra-light strings to make it usable. Even so, he found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it, leading to the development of his signature playing style. He said in a later interview, "That was where I found my 'voice' on guitar." After a brief stint with Brewers Droop, Knopfler took a job as
8346-493: The original Twin Reverb of 1968. In 2012, Fender released a series of three tweed-style amplifiers as an artist signature line, endorsed by Eric Clapton . One of these amps is the Twinolux , a modified version of the 5E8 Tweed Twin that removed one channel, and added a tremolo effect, with an overall 40W output. Listed at $ 3,000, it was praised by Vintage Guitar for its "exceptional" tones, both clean and driven. Fender released
8453-569: The promo for Shangri-La on his official website, he said his current line-up of Glenn Worf (bass), Guy Fletcher (keyboards), Chad Cromwell (drums), Richard Bennett (guitar), and Matt Rollings (piano) "...play Dire Straits songs better than Dire Straits did." The Shangri-La tour took Knopfler to countries such as India and the United Arab Emirates for the first time. In India, his concerts at Mumbai and Bangalore were well received, with over 20,000 fans at each concert. In November 2005
8560-399: The prototypes of this amp were built with metal control knobs, as pictured in the 1960 Fender Musical Instruments catalog. In recent scholarship, the Vibrasonic has been closely associated with the mythical brown tolex, small-box Twin-Amp. The Vibrasonic name was resurrected in 1995 for the “Custom” Vibrasonic, a 1x15 amplifier with individual Steel and Guitar channels. The “Custom” Vibrasonic
8667-552: The reverb and vibrato effects. The black faceplates of the "blackface" era Twin Reverb will say either "Fender Electric Instruments" (FEI) or "Fender Musical Instruments", (FMI) depending on the date of manufacture. Units made before the takeover of Fender by CBS in 1965 will be marked Fender Electric Instruments, and be worth a bit more on the collectors market. The more common speakers found in Fender Twin Reverb amps include Jensen C12Ns, Oxford 12T6s, JBL D-120Fs (an upgrade at
8774-431: The reverb circuit requires an additional "gain" stage in the preamp, and as such, the Vibrato channel is capable of a bit more distortion when the volume is set high. Vibrato (tremolo) is accomplished with what is known as a "vibrato bug" by Fender amplifier repairmen. The vibrato bug is a four-wire device consisting of a neon tube and light-dependent variable resistor, packaged in a short section of black tubing. It resembles
8881-453: The skit. Dire Straits regrouped for 11 June 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium , in which they were the headline act, and were accompanied by Eric Clapton , who by this time had developed a strong friendship with Knopfler. Jack Sonni and Terry Williams both officially left the band shortly afterwards. In September 1988 Mark Knopfler announced the official dissolution of Dire Straits, saying that he "needed
8988-409: The song " Private Dancer " for Tina Turner 's comeback album of the same name to which other Dire Straits members John Illsley, Alan Clark, Hal Lindes and Terry Williams contributed. Knopfler also contributed lead guitar to Bryan Ferry 's album Boys and Girls , released in June 1985. Dire Straits' biggest studio album by far was their fifth, Brothers in Arms . Recording of the album started at
9095-408: The soundtrack for the movie Wag the Dog . During that same year Rolling Stone magazine listed Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll , which included " Sultans of Swing ", Dire Straits' first hit. 2000 saw the release of Knopfler's next solo album, Sailing to Philadelphia . This has been his most successful to date, possibly helped by the number of notable contributors to
9202-460: The sparkling blue grillcloth from late 1967 to 1969. Early silverface amplifiers made between 1967 and 1968 had black lines on the brushed aluminum faceplate, still retaining the '60s "tailed" design on the amp logo, installed on the upper left side of the grillcloth. This feature was offered on models produced prior to the "tailless" period in 1973. Some later models came with an unusual silver grillcloth with sparkling orange threads ("orange sparkle");
9309-522: The track 17 Hills . In February 2011, Knopfler began work on his next solo album, Privateering , once again working with Guy Fletcher. In July 2011, it was announced that Knopfler would take time out from recording his new album to take part in a European tour with Bob Dylan during October and November. The next year Knopfler covered a Bob Dylan song, " Restless Farewell ", for an Amnesty International 50th Anniversary celebration record. On 3 September 2012, Knopfler's seventh solo album, Privateering ,
9416-637: The variable resistor has on the audio signal. The front panel also has a bright red pilot light lens (better known as "pilot lamp jewel" for its multiple triangular-shaped facets), covering the pilot light (made by the Chicago Miniature Lamp Co.). Other color schemes (amber, white, green, purple and blue) are also available. Rear panel controls include a 2.5-amp "slo-blo" fuse, an accessory AC outlet, an earth ground selection switch, on/off and standby switches. Additionally there are two speaker output jacks, and jacks for footswitches to activate/deactivate
9523-576: Was announced that this new album would be entitled Tracker , and that it would see a release in early 2015. European tour dates were also announced for Spring/Summer 2015. In 2016 he collaborated with the Italian bluesman Zucchero Fornaciari playing in Ci si arrende and Streets of Surrender (S.O.S.) contained in Black Cat . Fender Vibrasonic The Fender Vibrasonic was an amplifier made by Fender . It
9630-412: Was briefly rectified with a tall mercury vapor 83 tube and special tube socket. Due to its volatile nature if broken, it was quickly superseded with a GZ34 rectifier but not duly noted on the tube chart until the second production. The final 5F8-A Twin-Amp version, released in 1958 and produced into early 1960, had become the crowning achievement of Fender fifties amplification. The 5F series Twin utilized
9737-404: Was by far the most successful in terms of sales, but all models in this range and the next are now becoming highly sought-after by collectors and players. The Twin Reverb II was replaced by The Twin, commonly referred to, though incorrectly as, the "Evil Twin" (Fender has only referred to the "TWIN AMP" or the '94 Twin Amp as being the "Evil Twin", not the red knob Twin) due to the addition of both
9844-408: Was debuted as the first of the new-model Fender amps of the 1960s, with new tolex-covered cabinets and front-mounted control panels that would replace the tweed-covered, top-panel cabinets that were prevalent during the 1950s, as well as new circuitry which would characterize most Fender amplifiers for two decades. The Vibrasonic was introduced in 1959 and was discontinued in 1964. During this period,
9951-473: Was finally released in September 1991. On Every Street was nowhere near as popular as its predecessor, and met with a mixed critical reaction, with some reviewers regarding the album as an underwhelming comeback after a six-year break. Nonetheless, the album sold well and reached No. 1 in the UK. Session drummer Chris Whitten joined Dire Straits as they embarked on a gruelling world tour featuring 300 shows in front of some 7.1 million ticket-buying fans. This
10058-479: Was fitted with a push pull "boost" or acentric potentiometer in the master volume position. The rating of the amplifier's output power was upgraded to 100 watts and between 1977–1982 an ultra linear output transformer was used, increasing the power to 135 watts. A Hum Balance pot and Line Out jack for recording were added at this time. In 1982 the Twin Reverb II was introduced to compete with Mesa Boogie's very successful products; it had an output rating of 105 watts and
10165-673: Was hired as a junior reporter in Leeds for the Yorkshire Evening Post . During this time, he made the acquaintance of local furniture restorer, country blues enthusiast and part-time performer Steve Phillips , one year his senior, from whose record collection and guitar style Knopfler acquired a good knowledge of early blues artists and their styles. The two formed a duo called "The Duolian String Pickers", which performed in local folk and acoustic blues venues. Two years later, Knopfler decided to further his education, and later graduated with
10272-703: Was involved in a motorbike crash in Grosvenor Road, Belgravia and suffered a broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade and seven broken ribs. The planned Ragpicker's Dream tour was subsequently cancelled, but Knopfler recovered and returned to the stage in 2004 for his fourth album, Shangri-La . Shangri-La was recorded at the Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, California , in 2004, where the Band had made recordings years before for their documentary/movie, The Last Waltz . In
10379-585: Was later to rejoin Knopfler in the short lived side exercise from Dire Straits, The Notting Hillbillies . Upon graduation in 1973, Knopfler moved to London and joined a band based in High Wycombe called Brewers Droop . This group had issued studio-recorded material before Knopfler joined, and went into the studio while Knopfler was a member -- but Brewer's Droop material with Knopfler remained unissued until appearing on their 1989 archival album The Booze Brothers . One night, while spending time with friends,
10486-469: Was made until 1994; During 1994 it was slightly modified and the knobs were changed from red to black, keeping the same shape. It has since been succeeded by the first version "Twin Amps" of Fender's Protube line in 1995. This was the first in the series to use PCB (printed circuit boards) instead of PTP (point to point) wiring. All subsequent models and reissues have used PCBs. This version has Blackface cosmetics,
10593-401: Was manufactured with a variety of speakers including Jensen, Oxford and JBL designs. This variation lends support to the idea that the 80-watt circuit was beyond the power handling capacity of the speakers of the late 1950s. After a slight change in appearance, from the rough blonde tolex and maroon grille appearance to a smooth blonde tolex with a gold grille cloth, the Twin-Amp was replaced with
10700-477: Was one of the seven models in the newly designated Professional Series of Fender amplifiers. These amplifiers shared nearly identical circuits, with two (or four) 5881/6L6GC tubes in fixed-bias Class AB configuration, long-tailed pair phase inverters, and dual "normal" and "vibrato" channels with independent volume and tone controls; the models were differentiated only by cabinet/speaker configurations, transformers, and rectifiers. The tremolo ("vibrato") circuit which
10807-597: Was part of a series of amplifiers designed by Fender Custom Shop engineer Bruce Zinky, and incorporated the circuit of a stock Twin Reverb in the Steel channel and the circuit characteristics of Vibro-King and Tonemaster amplifiers (two other Zinky-designs) in the Guitar channel. The “Custom” Vibrasonic was equipped with a special design Eminence 15” speaker and had a relatively short manufacturing run, being discontinued by Fender in 1996. This article relating to musical instruments
10914-511: Was produced in USA between 1994 and 2001. On the front panel it says Twin Amp. It has two inputs, no vibrato, two channels with gain select on the floor pedal to give it two sounds per channel and an effects loop. It is 100 watts and also has a switch for a Low Power (25 Watt) mode. The amplifier features two 12 inch Eminence special design loudspeakers, 3 speaker output sockets (Series, Main and Parallel) and an output impedance switch for 4, 8, 16 ohms (Main
11021-542: Was released in March 1996. It featured the UK single " Darling Pretty ". The album's recording sessions helped create Knopfler's backing band, which is also known as The 96ers . It features Knopfler's old bandmate Guy Fletcher on keyboards. This band's main line-up has lasted much longer than any Dire Straits line-up. Also in 1996, Knopfler recorded guitar for Ted Christopher's Dunblane massacre tribute cover, Knockin' on Heaven's Door . Knopfler composed his first film score in 1983 for Local Hero . In 1997, Knopfler recorded
11128-619: Was released. This was Knopfler's first double album solo release and contained 20 new songs. After a further tour with Bob Dylan in the US during October and November, the Privateering tour of Europe followed in Spring/Summer 2013. A short run of five shows were played in the US that Autumn. Knopfler began work on another studio album in September 2013, again at his British Grove Studios in London with Guy Fletcher co-producing. On 16 September 2014, it
11235-539: Was the fourth best selling album in UK chart history. Brothers in Arms spawned several chart singles including the US # 1 hit " Money for Nothing ", which was the first video played on MTV in Britain. It was also the first compact disc to sell a million copies and is largely credited for launching the CD format as it was also one of the first DDD CDs ever released, Other successful singles were " So Far Away ", " Walk of Life ", and
11342-406: Was to be Dire Straits' final world tour; it was not as well received as the previous Brothers in Arms tour, and by this time Mark Knopfler had had enough of such huge operations. Manager Ed Bicknell is quoted as saying "The last tour was utter misery. Whatever the zeitgeist was that we had been part of, it had passed." John Illsley agreed, saying "Personal relationships were in trouble and it put
11449-424: Was uniform in this look—tweed or "airline linen" covering with a maroon with gold stripe woven saran grill cloth. The 1×12 Deluxe-Amp, the 1×15 Pro-Amp and the 3×10 Bandmaster are exceptional in dynamics and tone. Like its predecessors, the narrow panel tweed Fender amplifiers used Jensen Alnico V Concert Series Speakers, for the most part. By the end of the decade, a JBL 15" speaker was available on special order for
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