Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

Hello Folks,

Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

Thanks.

Mike

Mike,

> Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
> cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
> has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
> SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
> personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

I believe they were.
It would be nice to find the original prices, we did this for the PPG CDROM.

Paul

OOOh Yes !!! ..........................they were very very expensive...
for Example SDS7's brain (5 modules in it ) about £2500 ...(I mean the equivalent in France...)
about the Same for the SDSV ... (I think £3000 for the 5 pieces kit)

The SDX !!!!!!!!!!!! £ 5000 !! the standard console without all the memory etc...
full option was then about £8000...
In France, I've heard that it went up to £12 000 !!!!!!!!!????????

that's why I started to buy Simons when I saw them cheap in the nineties...

HOpe that helps ,
bye.
Patrice

----- Original Message -----
From: mikehock12
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 10:10 PM
Subject: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices



Hello Folks,

Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

Thanks.

Mike





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

Here are a few prices I have ;

( prices in France in 1986 ... )

SDS1000 £1078
Eprom £34
T.M.I £350
SDE £ 659
SDS1 £240 ( everything in blue included pads ...)
SDS200 £425
SDS400 £665
SDS800 £760
SDS9 £1550
SDS7 £2550
hh module £410
Cymb module £360
Tom module £360

When these following ones were new...

the SDS8 was about £1380
Trixer £1100
SDS2000 £1400

I personnally paid £3000 for a new10 piece kit full option SDX in 1994
& £1500 for a few extras Syquest full of multisampled kits...
The XRack was out of reach for me at £4500

I don't know for the early SDSIII & IV ...


Hope that helps .
Bye.
Patrice.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Maddox (Mail LIsts)
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 11:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Mike,

> Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
> cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
> has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
> SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
> personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

I believe they were.
It would be nice to find the original prices, we did this for the PPG CDROM.

Paul



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

thanks for the continuing information.

how much would an individual simmons drum pad have cost?

what would the bass pad have cost?

would they have cost more in the USA, since they were made in the UK
and had to be imported?

thanks again.

mike:

> > Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
> > cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
> > has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
> > SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
> > personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

paul:

> I believe they were.
> It would be nice to find the original prices, we did this for the PPG

CDROM.

I recently bought a Ddrum+ from a guy here in Sweden who testified to what
he payed for that. In those days electronic drums were EXPENSIVE! The prices
on rare stuff today is still just a fraction of the original price in those
days.

electronically yours, jesper - without price list though...
- -- --- ---- ----- ---- --- -- -
www.electronic-obsession.se

34 pounds for a fuxxing eprom - damn! ;)
BTW, great to see some activity on the list...

Regarding the 70's, I guess it was even worse. The Pollards, early Simmons
and customised units must've been expensive since very few were sold and
only the biggest artists could be seen using them.

Pollard made a 4-channel unit but soon cut it down to 2 and 1 channel
versions. Circuits were expensive gadgets then... If you do a search for
Pollard Syndrum today you get few hits and many point to the same addresses.
But if they turn up on Ebay the japanese collectors are there like crows on
a corpse... ;)

electronically yours, jesper - proud owner of a Quad 478
- -- --- ---- ----- ---- --- -- -
www.electronic-obsession.se

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrice JACQUOT" <Jacquot.Patrice@...>
To: <Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 12:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices



Here are a few prices I have ;

( prices in France in 1986 ... )

SDS1000 £1078
Eprom £34
T.M.I £350
SDE £ 659
SDS1 £240 ( everything in
blue included pads ...)
SDS200 £425
SDS400 £665
SDS800 £760
SDS9 £1550
SDS7 £2550
hh module £410
Cymb module £360
Tom module £360

When these following ones were new...

the SDS8 was about £1380
Trixer £1100
SDS2000 £1400

I personnally paid £3000 for a new10 piece kit full option SDX in 1994
& £1500 for a few extras Syquest full of multisampled kits...
The XRack was out of reach for me at £4500

I don't know for the early SDSIII & IV ...


Hope that helps .
Bye.
Patrice.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Maddox (Mail LIsts)
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 11:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Mike,

> Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
> cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
> has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
> SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
> personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

I believe they were.
It would be nice to find the original prices, we did this for the PPG
CDROM.

Paul



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





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hi jesper
i got a sds9/mtx9 combo for £1500 in '86
- my first bank loan
i recall sdx's going for £6-10000 depnding on specs when they first appeared
bear in mind fairlights were £100000 when they were first built
i can't recall exactly what sds5's went for but i did play one regular when i worked in a music shop over a summer at university - would have beeen the £1000 mark
sadly when my first simmons kit got stolen years ago i threw out all the manuals and press..................and i had most of from 86 - 92ish
dp

----- Original Message -----
From: jesper@...
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 6:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


mike:
> > Would anyone happen to know what any of the models of Simmons drums
> > cost when they first came out back in the 80's? A friend of mine who
> > has a kit vaguely remembers his parents getting him two pads and an
> > SDS5 brain for about 2 grand US, but he's not sure since he didn't
> > personally make the purchase. Were they really expensive back then?

paul:
> I believe they were.
> It would be nice to find the original prices, we did this for the PPG
CDROM.

I recently bought a Ddrum+ from a guy here in Sweden who testified to what
he payed for that. In those days electronic drums were EXPENSIVE! The prices
on rare stuff today is still just a fraction of the original price in those
days.

electronically yours, jesper - without price list though...
- -- --- ---- ----- ---- --- -- -
www.electronic-obsession.se





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

Patrice,

Thanks I'll createa page for this,

( everything in blue included pads ...)

its all black and white?
Can you tell me which included pads?

Paul

Sorry for this ,
in my answer the brains including pads were coloured in blue ...
The yahoo messages don't resitute colours ...

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul.Maddox.Mail-list@...
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Patrice,

Thanks I'll createa page for this,

( everything in blue included pads ...)

its all black and white?
Can you tell me which included pads?

Paul




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

I have also that last prices list from 1994 ; inc VAT !

Rubber pad (mono) £47
Rubber pad (stereo) £50
Rubber Bass Pad £156

Turtle Trap £366
ADT £294
Master Hugger £162
Drum Hugger Set (1MH + 4 Slave Huggers) £322

XRack / SDX
1993;

SDX from £1750 to £2740 following ram & HD options
please note that it isn't the original prices, just the later ones....At that time (1993) Dave was building 1 or 2 units a year ...
ZI SDX pads £58 / £ 68 following if Snares, Toms or Symbals ...

1994 ;
XRack (rack & console) £2941
ZI XRack pads £120 they were exactly the same ....don't ask me why ...

10 piece drums + cymbals set up + hexabass + XRack £4751

SDX Original Sound Library was 140M° ..................£3.5 / 2 Meg copied !

The Extra sound Library from Akai CDRoms was about £65 for Phil Collins multisampled kit (8M° of Ram / each kit)
it went up to.................................................................£414 for the Bob Clearmountain Kits (46M°)

Expensive but Waow !!! Sounds like a real drumkit ! Just the dynamic is different !!!



This is it !
Sorry but I have no time enough to precise each details...
Bye ...

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul.Maddox.Mail-list@...
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Patrice,

Thanks I'll createa page for this,

( everything in blue included pads ...)

its all black and white?
Can you tell me which included pads?

Paul




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

Patrice,

> in my answer the brains including pads were coloured in blue ...
> The yahoo messages don't resitute colours ...

:-)
Which ones did include pads then?

Paul

Patrice,

> I have also that last prices list from 1994 ; inc VAT !
> This is it !
> Sorry but I have no time enough to precise each details...

thanks, I'll put this together with the other information you sent.
And we'll see what we can get :-)

Paul

all the Drums dedicated brains..., for example not the SDE (it was more a sort of keyboard expander...).

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul.Maddox.Mail-list@...
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Patrice,

> in my answer the brains including pads were coloured in blue ...
> The yahoo messages don't resitute colours ...

:-)
Which ones did include pads then?

Paul




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

Great info Patrice, thank you!
do you know if the individual pads were the same price in 1982 - 83,
or were they more expensive?


--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "Patrice JACQUOT"
<Jacquot.Patrice@w...> wrote:

> I have also that last prices list from 1994 ; inc VAT !
>
> Rubber pad (mono) £47
> Rubber pad (stereo) £50
> Rubber Bass Pad £156
>
> Turtle Trap £366
> ADT £294
> Master Hugger £162
> Drum Hugger Set (1MH + 4 Slave Huggers) £322

HI Paul there's one thing that you might be interestedto knoww if you didn't already read it ...
The SDS1 isn't the first product of Simmons ...
it's just a single programmable pad with an Eprom ...it has been built around 85 I think...

The real SDS 1 was the Simmons Drum Synthesizer that Dave made for the Drummer of his band (Dave was a pianist then) , before builting the SDS2 which was a 2 voices prototype (the happy owner is noone else than ....Jesper ...our analog specialist & follower ... ).if I remember well Dave was repairing some ARP synths at that time...
& Then Dave started a bigger production with the III, IV & V...
with the SDSV , the Novel started .... the V was firstly made under the Musicaid banner ...
& then Simmons Electronic arrived with the big destiny we all know ...
& so on ...Simmons Digital ....Sound Unit ....& today .

Bye for tonight,
patrice.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul.Maddox.Mail-list@...
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Patrice,

> I have also that last prices list from 1994 ; inc VAT !
> This is it !
> Sorry but I have no time enough to precise each details...

thanks, I'll put this together with the other information you sent.
And we'll see what we can get :-)

Paul




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

Patrice,

> HI Paul there's one thing that you might be interestedto knoww if you didn't
> already read it ...
> The SDS1 isn't the first product of Simmons ...

Yeah, Jesper was explaining to me, when he sent me the pictures of the SDS2.

> The real SDS 1 was the Simmons Drum Synthesizer that Dave made for the
> Drummer of his band (Dave was a pianist then) ,

Yeah, I'd like to see that, much like with the PPG stuff it took us years to
find a good picture of the wavecomputer 340/380 system!

Paul

the only picture I saw was in the "SImmons book" by Bob Henrit.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Maddox (Mail LIsts)
To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 11:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] Simmons drum original prices


Patrice,

> HI Paul there's one thing that you might be interestedto knoww if you didn't
> already read it ...
> The SDS1 isn't the first product of Simmons ...

Yeah, Jesper was explaining to me, when he sent me the pictures of the SDS2.

> The real SDS 1 was the Simmons Drum Synthesizer that Dave made for the
> Drummer of his band (Dave was a pianist then) ,

Yeah, I'd like to see that, much like with the PPG stuff it took us years to
find a good picture of the wavecomputer 340/380 system!

Paul



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