We just keep adding great companies to our product line-up!

We're proud to announce that we here at Midwest Drum are now Line 6 dealers! Heres a bit of what we've got in store.

Spider IV 120

Spider® IV guitar amplifiers redefine what is sonically possible from modeling amplifiers. Feast your ears on the sophisticated touch response, complex distortions, and tube-style compression of the most advanced Line 6 amp modeling to date.

Inspired by the sounds of immortal American, British and European amplifiers, (and inspired by the features that made Spider III amplifiers the #1-selling guitar amps in the country*) Spider IV amps grant you unlimited access to sparkling clean tones, rich mid-range tones on the verge of breakup, high-gain metal mayhem and more. Plus you get stunning presets, juicy effects and the unparalleled flexibility that made Line 6 famous.

Over 50 of today's hottest guitarists and bands hand-crafted more than 300 presets for Spider IV 75, 120, 150 and HD150.

Spider Jam

Spider Jam™ gives you hundreds of coveted guitar sounds, sound-on-sound looping and the best band in the world right at your fingertips!

A member of the infamous Spider™ family, Spider Jam shares some popular family jewels like 200+ artist-created presets, 150+ song-based presets, 12 Line 6 original amp models and seven Smart Control FX, including reverb and delay. It’s full of fan favorites but Spider Jam also features some new, unique characteristics —

— like over 100 ribcage-rattling Endless Jam tracks and drum loops played by LA and Nashville’s top session musicians slamming the drums, thumping the bass and hacking away at guitars. These aren’t robotic, computer-generated jam tracks — you’ll feel your pulse racing while you’re jamming with top players in killer tunes that explode out of the speaker in vivid, uncompressed audio. Play for days over the Endless Jams and, with sound-on-sound loop recording, save your scorching solos right into Spider Jam.

Cooking at 75 watts, Spider Jam offers rhythm-section chemistry, hundreds of amazing guitar tones and all your recorded creations pushed out of a 12" Celestion® Custom speaker and a 2" tweeter — this thing’s got so much bang for your buck we should issue it with a health warning.

Micro Spider

Micro Spider® is a fully loaded, battery-powered addition to the Spider® family of amplifiers. At home, on vacation or in the back of the tour bus, Micro Spider is the portable amp you can truly rely on for brilliant on-the-go tones and effects for electric guitars, acoustic guitars and vocals.

Offering attitude and flexibility unmatched by amps more than twice its size, Micro Spider has a larger-than-life Napoleon complex. Four Spider amp models, a new acoustic guitar model and six Smart Control FX give Micro Spider a wide tonal range and real sonic versatility. And with POD® 2.0 -style direct out, Micro Spider is ideal for practicing with headphones and hassle-free direct recording.

There’s a lot of muscle in this raucous little box: the sound of six C batteries pushing six watts of screaming electricity through a 6.5" speaker has never sounded so ferocious. Plus, with its integrated chromatic tuner, Micro Spider has everything you need—wherever you are.

Rugged, reliable and ready to go, Micro Spider is always at your side whenever inspiration strikes.

Not only do we have their great guitar amps, we also have their Lowdown series of bass amps!

Lowdown 175

The thump of a vintage flip-top, the punch of a modern combo or the grit of a '70s head and behemoth cab: LowDown® bass amps make it easy to find your tone.

Alongside historic bass sounds, LowDown amps also deliver incredible modern conveniences. Take advantage of balanced XLR direct outputs, studio-quality on-board effects, foot-controller connectivity and more.

Have you discovered the deeper LowDown benefits? Play vintage combo tones at earth-shaking 21st-century volumes. Get a sought-after gritty rock tone without carrying a back-breaking 300-pound 8x10 cab. Enjoy tones modeled after tried-and-true gear combinations (and enjoy not spending a small fortune collecting all the gear—leave that to us).

Which LowDown bass amp is perfect for you?

Lastly, we have their great stompboxes! Such as...

M9 Stompbox Modeler

M9 Stompbox Modeler is powerful, portable and bursting with immortal stompbox effects. Its wide variety of vintage and modern tones makes it perfect on its own or an unrivalled addition to you pedal board.

Sink your teeth into over 100 distinctive distortions, tangy choruses, syrupy sweet reverbs, and many other kinds of expressive effects. They combine under your feet to form an instant collection of stunning stompbox tones (many of which are from DL4™ Delay Modeler, Verbzilla® and other well-known Line 6 pedals).

Built like three side-by-side effect units, M9 Stompbox Modeler lets you run any three effects simultaneously with any three others on deck. Mix and match as you please. You have 100% control over effect placement and effect type - arrange them into tried-and-true combinations or get creative and invent your own original blends.

Create up to twenty-four different effect arrangements, or "scenes" – one for your metal band, one for your Top 40 gig...you get the picture. No more tearing up Velcro® just to switch out one or two pedals!

Included is a 28-second looper that provides the most fun you can have without getting arrested. It delivers extended, in-the-moment sound-on-sound looping and unlimited sonic possibilities. Six dedicated footswitches (Record/Overdub, Play/Stop, Play Once, Undo/Redo, Half Speed and Reverse) make it a snap to use.

M9 Stompbox Modeler is stompbox simple. There are no menus, no saving and no hassles. Tweak your tones on the fly using the dedicated knobs and, just like with classic stompboxes, your settings will remain after you power down.

Stocked with inputs and outputs, M9 Stompbox Modeler will integrate seamlessly into your pedal board, your MIDI setup and all your live, studio and rehearsal scenarios. It boasts MIDI in and out, a pair of 1/4-inch expression pedal inputs and 1/4-inch mono/stereo inputs and outputs (with true analog bypass or DSP bypass).

Tough as nails, easy to use and ready to go, toss M9 Stompbox Modeler into your gig bag to take advantage of the all-in-one stompbox solution.

So, if theres anything from this great company that you need (and I assure you, there is something!), come see us!
Matt B
MDP

"The year was 1997. The Packers won over the Patriots 35-21, Boogie Nights was the "big" movie of the year, and across the pond on a small farm, Ashdown Amplification was born! Ashdown is the brainchild of bass player and ethusiast Mark Gooday. Mark worked as a product developer for Trace Elliott in the mid-80's. In 1997, Mark embarked on his journey of building a better bass amp. Mark's aim was to develop a "modern classic", in what he describes as showing respect to his predecessors while marrying new innovation with vintage styling. The result was a perfect mix of versatility, sound, and innovation!

Today, Ashdown bass amps can be seen on stage with the likes of U2's Adam Clayton, Foo Fighter's Nate Mendel, and Pino Paladino, just to name a few. Come in and check out what these players have already come to know, the power and performance of Ashdown!" - Greg, the bass guy, MDP

Like Greg said folks, we here at MDP are very excited to carry Ashdown Engineering! Let me show you a few of the things we've got in stock right now.

Klystron 500

The 575-Watt Klystron 500 head features a single input is switchable for passive and active instruments with a blend of solid state and dual triode tube preamps stages. Three straightforward rotary tone controls provide 20dB of cut and boost at 60Hz, 660Hz and 5kHz, and are supplemented by two pairs of additional sliders giving 15dB cut and boost at 180Hz, 340Hz, 1.3kHz and 2.6kHz. A built-in dual band compressor acts separately on the high and low frequency components of the signal to provide precise control, while the on-board sub-harmonic generator turns the Classics into powerhouses of tone.

Retail price: $1799
MDP Sale Price: $1259

ABM 410T

The ABM-410T is a 650 watt 8 Ohm bass cabinet combining 4 X 10" Ashdown BlueLine drivers with an HF horn in a precision tuned plywood cabinet.
The cabinet is constructed from high-grade birch ply with properly screwed and glued joints, protected by a tough, buffalo leather cloth covering and chromed metal corners. Special Ashdown-designed metal handles are used in favour of inferior flip handles which can rattle after years of use.
Ashdown BlueLine speakers are specially developed to achieve a superb balance of power, transparency and deep, controlled low end, without sacrificing any of the mid-band attack and high-end brightness that are so important in a modern bass sound.

Retail price: $899
MDP Sale Price: $629

MAG 300 EVO-II

The MAG 300H head features a potent new fan-cooled 307 watts RMS power section. Rotary bass, middle and treble controls are supplemented by smaller rotary controls providing 15dB of cut and boost at 220Hz and 1.6kHz, providing a comprehensive 5 band EQ section. Additionally, front panel push switches for Bright and Deep settings provide instant access to attacking and warm, rounded sounds respectively and, on the subject of low-end response, the trademark Ashdown sub-harmonic generator is ready and able to deliver truck loads of earth moving tone if called upon. Inputs are provided for active and passive instruments and the front panel also features an effects send and return, a tuner/line output and a balanced DI output for direct connection to a mixing console.
With the MAGs now achieving EVO II status, the amplifier also includes a built-in compressor with precision sonic control.
Retail price: $569
MDP Sale Price: $399

SO!!!

Please, come on by! Check out the awesome Ashdown stuff!

A few months ago, Fender came out with their new Roadworn series. Although, you'd be hard pressed to tell it was a new line. The Roadworn guitars are very carefully reliced to appear used. Fender employees work at each guitar individually until it reaches their standards of appearing to be 'roadworn'. They give a very classic feel to a brand new instrument. Its a nice way to get some character on your guitar without playing it out in clubs every weekend for thirty years!

Aesthetics: Definitely ten out of ten! The guitars are just great. They are very eye-catching. Each one is reliced individually, so they are all unique. Fender has reliced guitars for years in their Custom Shop, but that would cost you upwards of $3000 dollars! They have tried their hand at inexpensive relics before (check out the Joe Strummer tele) but it didn't turn out as good as it could have. These guitars give you the 100% custom reliced look at an affordable price.

Playability: Probably somewhere around a 7. These guitars feel like they've been played for years; very worn in. Thats a good thing, to some people. There is always something to be said for having a brand new guitar and the way that feels too though. Considering they are designed to feel played and worn, they hit that goal without a doubt. If you want a brand new, shiny, polished neck, these guitars are probably not for you.

Sound: Again, a 7. The Strats & Teles come with the Fender Tex-Mex pickups. While livlier than the pickups that come with the regular standard lines, they aren't the best. Really though, this has a lot to do with personal preference.

Price: I'd say about a 6. The guitars retail for $1200, and we sell them here in the store for $949.99. Some people may have a problem paying nearly a thousand dollars for a Mexican made Fender, but when you take into consideration the amount of hands-on, one of a kind worksmanship goes into each one, it seems a bit more reasonable. Also, it does have some upgraded components from the Standard series.

BOTTOM LINE: Overall Score - 7.5 The Roadworn Strats & Teles are a great new product. It puts the availability of a totally individual, hand reliced piece in your hands for just under a thousand dollars. The vintage vibe is very much alive and well with these instruments. All things considered, a very good buy for someone wanting a unique, eye-catching instrument, without wanting to spend a Fender Custom Shop price!

IN STOCK AT THE TIME OF THIS POST (call for availability): 1 50s Tele in Burst, 1 60s Strat in Burst.

Thats all for now. You'll notice I didn't write anything about the Roadworn P or J Basses...its because I haven't had a chance to play either of them yet! I wouldn't wanna write about something I don't know about!

Matt B - MDP