Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

If you don't want to spend much money, use the compact drums set. I played these and they felt like they would break in half. They wobbled all over. They have the exact feel of a "rock band" video game set of drums... Maybe not that good. JUNK

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

Is this the best electronic drum set out there ? Of course not ! But if you evaluate it on what you get for the price, it's a decent little 5 piece drum set + 3 cymbals. The quality of the drum sounds through a decent amp is fine, and you have 10 different diverse drum sets + a user defined set to choose from.
I'm a professional musician, but not a drummer. I mainly got this as a MIDI drum trigger for drum samplers in my DAW. It works quite well for that, and I prefer it over trying to play a drum part on my Akai Pad controller.
As an entry level set, you shouldn't expect it to match up feature wise with sets costing twice as much or more.
The main shortcoming for me is the single zone snare, verus a 2 zone snare which could offer a rim shot in addition to the main snare hit sound.
The super compact design has pros and cons. On the plus side, it has an exteremely small footprint. The 3 tom drums are all attached to a single piece including the "brain". The pads are on the small side and non-adjustable. The bass drum and hi-hat pedals are also attached to a single base section, which means their placement is also non adjustable.
On my 1st unit the hi-hat pedal dveloped a short. This meant having to return the whole set. MF, as expected, handled this sprofessionaly. As I felt the unit could do enough of what I need to do, I chose to exchange it for the same model rather than to upgrade to a pricier set.
For a rank beginner, or someone like myself who wants to use it primarily as a MIDI trigger unit, I'd recommend it. There's really nothing else similar at this price point.
If you understand the limitations before you buy and have and have the right applicatio for it, you probably won't be dissapointed.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

Great starter kit, especially for kids due to its compact size. I got mine hooked up to a small cheap amp and get good sound out of it with volume maxed on the amp and the kit. My favorite use of it is to have my iphone playing music through headphones while I play along on the kit.

The use of the console buttons could be easier. You have to press and hold multiple buttons to make certain things happen.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

While not the best out there this kit for the money is great for beginning and for practice.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

Just got these for christmas. So far:
It sounds like real drums using headphones but on an amp it has an electronic sound. If you are getting these to learn to play drums, I would very much recommend it. We have a very inexpensive amp for sound. It might sound better if it were hooked to a better amp. I couldn't say. Hope this helps.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

You cannot beat this product for the price !!!!!!!

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

My first review didn't see the light of day...Let's see about this one.

It sounded good enough for a small room jam. What people have said about sensitivity is pretty much spot on.

My complaint is that the kicker no longer works because the screw attaching the strap to the beater came out when the area in the molded plastic pedal it was screwed into broke.

Contacted the Simmons and was basically told it was between me and the merchant. So now I'll contact MF and see how it goes.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

I bought this drum kit to lay down some basic drum tracks to record guitar and bass in my studio. I wasn't expecting much considering the price, but this kit actually has some great sampled sounds. It is not as responsive as I would like, it will not register some hits if I'm playing fast, but I don't have any problems with anything mid- or slow tempo. It's not quite as sturdy as I would like, either. It will rock back and forth if I'm playing aggresively. My only REAL complaint about the kit, though, is the toms. The snare and cymbal pads are all about eight inches in diameter, and they are designed so that you can adjust their height and position to suit your playing style. The toms, however are only about 4 or 5 inches in diameter, and you cannot adjust their position and they are placed pretty close together. When I first started playing on this kit I was hitting the plastic shell of the kit as much as I was hitting the pads. That's not a HUGE deal, but it is something to get used to. Overall, though, this is a great little kit and you really can't do better for this price.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

Purchased November as a birthday present for myself. I am mainly a guitar player, but wanted something for when others came over to jam.

Setup was pretty easy. Hooked it up to my PA and was pretty impressed with what I heard although some of the presets are not very usable.

I pretty much agree with what others have said about sensitivity. The ride is to soft, the crash can either be too loud or non-existent, the snare seems to be geared towards the center.

A month later I finally had a change to try them out with other musicians. After an hour of play, the kick pedal broke. The mechanism consists only of a fabric strap screwed into the plastic pedal on one end and a plastic hinge on the other that supported the beater. The screw literally ripped the plastic it was attached to on the bottom of the pedal.

Was fun while it lasted.

Comments about Simmons SDXpress Compact 5-Piece Electronic Drum Kit:

Bought this for my son for Christmas. He wanted a drum set so bad.... For the price point, I thought it would be decent. I was wrong. After constructing the unit (fairly easy, but not much in the way of instructions), It was lacking badly. The foot pedals only work about every third of fourth kick. The pad response is the same. More than half the time I hit a pad, no sound comes out. Even at full volume. The cymbils respond slightly better, but the volume is so low that you can barely hear them. I understand that there are some volume adjustments that can be made, so that might help. Overall, I think I will return this kit and spend twice the money on 20 times the unit..... I was surprised a bit, as some of the other Simmons products I have purchased in the past have been pretty solid items. Oh well, live and learn.....