Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

Hi all

I had an SDS8 set back in the 80's, bright yellow, and they were truly awesome.  Whilst I understand they were inferior to the rest of the Simmons range in that they were analogue, they still had an awesome sound, and were totaly unique.  I went out and bought an 80w bass amp with twin 10" drivers. When I told the salesman what I intended to use it for, he told me I was dreaming, and that it wouldn't last 10 minutes.  I still have the amp today - and it's still works! - but it never did the Simmons sound justice.  My only regret was I never really got to play them through a decent sound system.

Of course the SDS8 pads just had a flat back, whereas I reckon that the SDS7/SDS9 3-dimensional shape looked much better. The rubber surface was fairly comfortable to play.  The only other Simmons I only ever got to use was (I think) an SDS5 riot-shield surface, and can imagine they would have been much harder to use from a comfort perspective.

I can understand why that guy's asking the price he is: cos he's the original owner, so is emotionally attached to them. They look to be in good condition, but the market will decide what they are really worth.

I sold them in the mid-90's, and have since tried to track them down but sadly have so far been unsuccessful.

I truly cannot believe why someone is not making them in their original form, but with today's electronics.  And not the Guitar Center type, either. As in, hexagonal, with the rubber or similar modern surfaces; and modernised selection of all the sound parameters, etc.

You guys that are trying to build 'clones' from scratch are legends too.  bring back the 80's!!!

cheers,

Gwyn (NZ)

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