Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

As both a graphic designer and a loyal Simmons
collector, I wasn't surprised at all that Guitar
Center is going with the 'heritage' SImmons logo
(thin, all caps in a keyline capsule shape)--as
opposed to the logotype the company used near the end
of its reign (bold, chunky with underscore 'o') or a
totally new logo altogether. The original logo
embodies the heyday of Simmons, when they were the
most popular e-drums on the planet.

As a kid--before I was a musician--I'd see a cool
black script logo on cymbals all over MTV.
Z-something, I couldn't catch a long enough glimpse to
read the name BUT I KNEW I WANTED TO BE A DRUMMER AND
USE THOSE CYMBALS. Zildjian's logotype is so strong,
it's hardly been touched for the life of the company.
Guitar Center probably recognizes that if there's any
mileage at all left in the Simmons brand, it's going
to be in the hex shape of the pads and that original
logo. And since these new drums are just being bought
by GC from a third party vendor, the hex pads aren't
an option. But the logo is, and I'm sure Guitar Center
is going to leverage as much 'brand equity' out of it
as they can. 

Long live THE REAL SIMMONS.

cris

Cris Logan
922 Presidio Avenue, #3  San Francisco  California 94115
tel: +415 771 8897   mobile: +415 465 2543

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