Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

great info...wow

now if only you might sell one of those cymbals...
did you buy them brand new back then? do they work with the sds5 
brain?

mike


--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, sovereigng@a... wrote:
>   OK, now. Few are qualified to answer this riddle. I've left all 
the SDS-III 
> queries to Jesper because he knows the most about them. My 
turn.... 
>     The original Simmons cymbal "pad" was made of some super dense 
injection 
> molded polystyrene. What a clangorous pad it is! If you thought 
the 
> clickity-click of the "V" pads was annoying......... Anyway, the 
cymbal is somewhat of 
> an oblong hexagon running 13.5 inches from front to back (viewed 
from the 
> played position as it is hung on a stand) and 11.5 inches from 
left to right. As 
> for triggering, there are in fact two piezos wired to the same XLR 
connector. 
> The pad is basically three pieces of plastic screwed together. The 
first piezo 
> is hot-glued to the camber or first piece beneath the bell 
assembly. This gives 
> you the basic cymbal sound that some of us who own the cymbal 
module have 
> come to know. The second piezo is hot-glued to the bell assembly, 
under the dome 
> and appears to have additional electronic components wired and 
glued in place 
> on top of the positive element. I believe this is a capacitor but 
don't quote 
> me. I can't make out what it is without cutting into the glue. The 
reason I 
> think it's a capacitor is because when you play the bell the 
attack of the 
> cymbal sound becomes sharper and more aggressive and has more of a 
ping to it. Like 
> the bell of a real cymbal. As real as they could get with an 8 bit 
sample 
> recorded onto a 32k EPROM in 1981. Now this effect is achievable 
when you whack a 
> regular hard top SDS-V pad and you have the sensitivity cranked 
but the 
> cymbal pad allows more natural dynamics and more realistic 
playing. It's rather 
> simple in design but a remarkable tribute to the genius of Dave 
Simmons and his 
> design team. And lastly, I believe they were only made in white. 
But again, 
> don't quote me. I vaguely remember seeing one in yellow when I was 
a kid but that 
> could be selective memory.
>     How do I know all this? I own four, dead mint, three of which 
were never 
> played with a drumstick, factory stock, in the original boxes and 
plastic 
> bags. The XLR cables haven't even been untied.
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]