Archive for January, 2010

Where shall I dig first?

Friday, January 29th, 2010

One of the most often asked question is: “Where can I find a vintage SDS-whatever kit?” And my answer ist always: “Time, money, patience, luck”. When I look back how I found my rarest exhibits: I found at least half of it away from Ebay. At least “half away”. Let’s pick one of my rarest and favourites: Musicaid SDS3. I digged a broken SDS9 brain on Ebay/Germany. Not very cheap but I couldn’t wait to get one. For the first time after a won auction I asked the seller if he had any more Simmons gear for sale. He responded: “Well, yes, but the device I have is very old, does not even work and likely it’s not worth a cent”. He was talking about my SDS3, perfect cosmetic condition and with all original 4 Premier pads, and asked ME about it’s actual value. I am an honest guy, I did not want to fool him so I offered him 400 Euro (in my opinion a fair collector’s value at that time) although I would have got it for 50. We where both happy. My buddy Michael fixed it for me and analysed it for his own clone project. The SDS3 is a really magic device. Only about 100 units have been built, most or even all of them by Dave Simmons himself BY HAND. Somehow I think it is together with SDSV the best sounding analog drum synthesizer ever built. It is still my first choice for remix and dance productions. Some of my gear found the way to Simmonsmuseum in a similar manner. Only about half of my inventory came by won Ebay auctions. Mostly the not so demanded stuff. But any time I take a look at my collection, I am happy that I have invensted my money in Simmons gear and not in investment funts 😉 Probably in 2035, when I will retire, you may kindly ask whether I would part with something…

endangered species

Friday, January 29th, 2010

When I (re)started my interest for Simmons drums back in 2003, I immediately found a white and shiny 5 piece SDSV kit on Ebay, located in Switzerland. Although I did not win the auction, I was not too disappointed as Simmons drums regularly appeared there from time to time. Since then I daily check Simmons offers on Ebay in several key areas such as US, UK and of course Germany as well as several websites providing small adds and I must say that the offers became less and less over the years, those ones that I found are mostly very expensive and/or in poor condition. So sometimes I think that I started to collect at a better period of time. Those of you who are still desperately waiting for an SDSV or SDX need much more patience and … money. One more reason to keep the remaining gear and all the docs and gossip alive. Simmons, an endangered species…

Live Aid I985

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Normally I forget events really quick. But there are some I still remember what I actually did during that event. I remember the day of the great Live Aid concert. Unfortunately I spent the whole day in a train to London and I could not follow the show on TV. So many bands used Simmons drums at least to spice up their drum or percussion set up and I couldn’t watch their performances… Really disappointing. Fortunately we have the internet and some deligant guys who published at least parts of these historical pop events such as (just to mention a few)

David Bowie feat. Thomas Dolby on keyboards

Queen

Paul Young

Spandau Ballet (with John Keeble who obviously used his only remaining SDSV pad as a place for his metronome :-))

The Cars

Simmons alive and kicking – Polytune

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Yes, there are still bands around using Simmons on recordings and … live on stage! Here’s one: Polytune from Germany. Drummer Fake still trusts in his scuffproof black SDSV:



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