Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

i am in the process of getting rid of my yamaha drum pads to replace 
them with simmons pads to add a bit more character to my rig.  The 
only thing is, i DO NOT want the simmons pads with the hard plastic 
playing surface.  would someone be kind enough to enlighten me as to 
model #'s of simmons pads with the gum rubber playing surfaces?

thanks in advance for any help,

STB

hi
the riot shield plastic pads were sds5's and are pretty damn rare in 
fact i only iever saw two sets in the 80's when i worked in a music 
shop

the sds9/1000/800 etc's with black rubber surface (also have a 
deeper hexagonal casing below..........there are lots of these 
puppies around some are jack plug and some are xlr's used these from 
around '87 to '94 and they were pretty bombproof but a little dead 
to play in terms of bounce

sdx pads look the same audience side as sds9 etc pads but have a 
grey surface and the pickups are totally different as they were for 
sdx system (not tried them with other gear yet!!) yet to find how 
durable these are

i also recall the late model simmons pads which used a drum head and 
the bass drum had a beater bar across the top but can't recall the 
name but i think they were pretty rare as it was around the time 
simmons shut up shop finally  and when i stopped playing when my kit 
was stolen...........

most of the pads you'll see for sale are the black rubber type 



--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "omons43612" <omons@h...> 
wrote:
> i am in the process of getting rid of my yamaha drum pads to 
replace 
> them with simmons pads to add a bit more character to my rig.  The 
> only thing is, i DO NOT want the simmons pads with the hard 
plastic 
> playing surface.  would someone be kind enough to enlighten me as 
to 

> model #'s of simmons pads with the gum rubber playing surfaces?
> 
> thanks in advance for any help,
> 
> STB

Mark 1 pads were made by Premier for the SDS 3 and 4 and used 
loudspeakers for pickups.

Mark 2 were the "riot shield" pads Spandau Ballet and everyone else 
that used the SDS 5 loved (and damaged their wrists on !). Used a 
piezo transducer as the pickup as did all future ones (ex-SDX - see 
later). All pads including bass had XLR connectors.

Mark 3 pads came in 2 styles, the pricey XLR-type that accompanied 
the SDS 7, and the cheaper phono-type "bowls" that came with the SDS 
8 etc.

Mark 4 pads apparently cost a 6-figure sum to produce and are the 
ones you usually see on ebay, etc.  They are the best and also come 
in a "stereo" snare version with pad and rimshot.  Used with SDS 9, 
SDS 1000, SDS 2000, etc...  From memory I think you could buy them 
in either phono or XLR type.

SDX pads (ZI - zone intellient) are based on the mark 4 hardware but 
totally different (and incompatible) pickups. They use a 3-wire mesh 
to sense position, and force-sensing resistor pad to sense hit power 
(except bass which is the same as the mark 4 - piezo, and no 
position sensing). They are superb, a brilliant concept (works like 
those mouse pads on modern laptop computers), though still like 
hitting a car tyre ! Use stereo phono connectors except for stereo 
snare which has a funny 4-pin connector.

Hexa-series - the final pads, Hexasnare, Hexabass, etc. and as Dave 
says have a real Remo head, feeding a piezo transducer.  Good feel 
to them, use them if you get the chance.

Don't try to use ZI pads with other (Simmons or non-Simmons) 
hardware - they don't work as they don't produce a voltage.

A bonus (dunno if intentional but then again Dave Simmons/Simon 
Davidmann/Jim Pinnock et al. were genius way ahead of their time so 
it probably was) is that the piezo-pads work very well with the SDX. 
My SDX setup has Hexapads and ZI pads with real cymbals and it feels 
and sounds awesome !

hope this is of some use...

Phil

--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "sdxsds9" <davep@t...> wrote:
> hi
> the riot shield plastic pads were sds5's and are pretty damn rare 
in 
> fact i only iever saw two sets in the 80's when i worked in a 
music 
> shop
> 
> the sds9/1000/800 etc's with black rubber surface (also have a 
> deeper hexagonal casing below..........there are lots of these 
> puppies around some are jack plug and some are xlr's used these 
from 
> around '87 to '94 and they were pretty bombproof but a little dead 
> to play in terms of bounce
> 
> sdx pads look the same audience side as sds9 etc pads but have a 
> grey surface and the pickups are totally different as they were 
for 
> sdx system (not tried them with other gear yet!!) yet to find how 
> durable these are
> 
> i also recall the late model simmons pads which used a drum head 
and 
> the bass drum had a beater bar across the top but can't recall the 
> name but i think they were pretty rare as it was around the time 
> simmons shut up shop finally  and when i stopped playing when my 
kit 
> was stolen...........
> 
> most of the pads you'll see for sale are the black rubber type 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "omons43612" <omons@h...> 
> wrote:
> > i am in the process of getting rid of my yamaha drum pads to 
> replace 
> > them with simmons pads to add a bit more character to my rig.  
The 
> > only thing is, i DO NOT want the simmons pads with the hard 
> plastic 
> > playing surface.  would someone be kind enough to enlighten me 
as 

> to 
> > model #'s of simmons pads with the gum rubber playing surfaces?
> > 
> > thanks in advance for any help,
> > 
> > STB