Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

Hey Roger,

Neil started using a full Simmons kit on the Grace Under Pressure 
album.  He was using the SDSV and the Clap Trap at time.  For Power 
Windows he moved onto the SDS7, but the majority of the sounds you 
are hearing are from custom made eproms.  There are a couple of 
Modern Drummer articles (sorry don't remember which issues) that 
describe the sampling session he had.  I remember Neil saying in the 
article that he rented a bunch of African drums for the session.  He 
also had his SDS7 modified with the Dual Sample Modules on every 
channel so he could have more sounds onhand.  By Hold Your Fire he 
had moved away from Simmons as a sound source and was using Akai S900 
samplers.  He was still using the Simmons pads to trigger though.  If 
I remember correctly a lot of this info is also in the now out of 
print biography of Rush called "Visions."  

Also the best written source on the history of Simmons Drums is "The 
Complete Simmons Drum Book."  It's out of print and extremely hard to 
find, but there is one on Ebay right now: 
http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Simmons-Drum-Book-sds1-sds5-sds9-sds7-synth-
etc_W0QQitemZ270150891023QQihZ017QQcategoryZ10175QQcmdZViewItem

I hope the info helps!!!

Lance


--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "atthegraves" <atthegraves@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hello everybody my name is Roger i live in Sandy Utah and what got 
me 
> to love the whole electronic drum sound from the 1980's and beyond 
was 
> none other than Neal Peart of Rush.I thought the way he set up his 
kits 
> where really neat and work well with his style of playing.Would it 
be 
> possible now to build a kit like he used say from the Power Windows 
> era?.I know Simmons is long gone and what a shame that is as i 
thought 
> they had such a sweet sound to them.Do any new electronic kits 
compare 
> to what Simmons made back in the 1980's?.If there are any Rush fans 
out 
> there tell me what was your favorite Neal Peart drum kit?.Since he 
> added electronics to his kit where the Simmons always the same 
through 
> out the years or did he try different ones?.Any good books i can 
get to 
> learn more about the history of Simmons?.Thank you all have a great 
day.
> 
> Roger
>