Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

Hi folks,

I've been hoping to get hold of an analogue Musicaid or Simmons Clap Trap for
some time, but missed out on the couple of affordable ones that have been on
eBay in recent years. The two that I've seen for sale this year (the one in
Sweden that Jesper posted a link to and another on eBay UK a few weeks ago)
suggest that they have now moved out of my price range.

So, I'm wondering how easy it would be to clone the analogue Clap Trap. I've
seen mention of the schematics on the Internet, but it's usually in relation to
the lack of an accompanying parts list. If a clone is ethically viable - it
would not be a commercial product, just a personal project - then I'm wondering
whether members of this list would be able to help with pictures of Clap Trap
internals in order to draw up a parts list. I'd also be keen to hear of anyone
with a copy of the schematic, which I assume was part of a service manual.

Chris

I'm hoping that if Dave does win back the rights to the Simmons name, the Analogue Clap Trap will be resurrected.

I picked up the Musicaid one last year for a VERY reasonable price. There's not a lot to it (it only really makes two noises), but I love its sound and its a lot of fun. I would hate to be without it.


________________________________
From: "chris@..." <chris@...>
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013, 15:21
Subject: [Simmons Drums] Analogue Clap Trap clone




Hi folks,

I've been hoping to get hold of an analogue Musicaid or Simmons Clap Trap for
some time, but missed out on the couple of affordable ones that have been on
eBay in recent years. The two that I've seen for sale this year (the one in
Sweden that Jesper posted a link to and another on eBay UK a few weeks ago)
suggest that they have now moved out of my price range.

So, I'm wondering how easy it would be to clone the analogue Clap Trap. I've
seen mention of the schematics on the Internet, but it's usually in relation to
the lack of an accompanying parts list. If a clone is ethically viable - it
would not be a commercial product, just a personal project - then I'm wondering
whether members of this list would be able to help with pictures of Clap Trap
internals in order to draw up a parts list. I'd also be keen to hear of anyone
with a copy of the schematic, which I assume was part of a service manual.

Chris



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On 21 May 2013 at 15:45 Chris Cronin <gushi1@...> wrote:

> I'm hoping that if Dave does win back the rights to the Simmons name, the
> Analogue Clap Trap will be resurrected.
>
> I picked up the Musicaid one last year for a VERY reasonable price. There's
> not a lot to it (it only really makes two noises), but I love its sound and
> its a lot of fun. I would hate to be without it.
>

Hi Chris,

I had a digital Clap Trap at one point, and it's also a great machine. The
analogue one seems to be capable of more "synthetic" sounds though, hence my
interest in acquiring or cloning one. There's a good example of its use on the
so called "Langham Sessions" by The Cure, where it's variously synced or
triggered by a Boss DR-55 drum machine. On their subsequent album I think the
Clap Trap is still responsible for some of the highly processed snare sounds.

Chris