Simmons SD1250 Electronic Drum Kit With Mesh Pads

Most Liked Positive Review

Worth the cost and then some.

I've been playing acoustic drums since the mid 80's and professionally since the early 90's. I previously owned a Roland TD-17 that I purchased as a demo unit from a GC in Texas. I paid $750 for the base unit and initially it did the job… for about two weeks. After two weeks I was sick of the cymbals and included sounds and therefore bought the VH-10 hats, 15" ride and old Gibraltar rack to replace the cheesy one that came with the TD-17. After these purchases I had $1400 invested. Lastly I bought the DrumTech acoustic sound pack for $50. This is what I'll be comparing the Simmons 1250 to. First of all, you get a 6 piece kit. Meaning kick, snare and 4 toms right out of the box. Second you get really good feeling cymbals. Even the single Hi-hat cymbals feels good and after a firmware upgrade, picks up every hit including alternating shoulder/bow hits. The ride feels great as well though I wish it was a 14" or 15". The crashes feel great and work as expected. The rack is much better than the standard TD-17 rack and I will not be buying a separate one to replace it. I've had no issues with it and the module is easily accessible while playing. The toms feel as good as the TD-17 toms though they do have hots spots that are louder than other parts of the head. They are also louder depending on which tom you're hitting. Specifically, toms number 2 and 3. I'm not sure why this is as the whole kit is EQ'd flat. I'm still working on it and it's not a game changer right now. Lastly the kick feels great and so far it's accurate. That said, I'm a single kick player. If you're a double kick player this kit may not be for you. The kick pad is small. Sounds. Unlike the TD-17 I've not yet felt the need to purchase additional sound packs (they don't make them anyway). The module is loaded with more acoustic drum sounds than I'll ever use. They are USEABLE drum sounds. While there are some throw aways, most are usable. I like the fact that you can easily create a kit by picking and choosing parts of other kits and then use the modules built in effects to modify the sounds further. Finally, you can easily import other sounds into the module as well. The included module that comes with this kit is outstanding at this price range. My initial complaint about it compared to the TD-17 is the lack of Bluetooth connectivity for music playback from an iPad or android. The BT capability is for MIDI or connecting an iPad or iPhone when using the Simmons app. I've since gotten over this complaint as the module has a line in jack with separate volume that works perfectly. The TD-17 module is a toy in comparison. To sum up, you're getting a LOT of kit for pennies compared to a similar Roland kit. That said it's still an e kit. It's never going to play or sound exactly like a real kit especially for crossstick applications. But, overall it gets the job done for playing at home and makes the comparable Alesis kit look like the cheesy toy it is.