Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

Hard to say exactly what the problem / solution was with mine, but here's
what I did:

First, the "Display & Switch Board" (programming panel) on mine was
incredibly flakey, so I replaced it with a working one.

While the unit was open, I checked all of the cabling and PCB connections.
Nothing was loose, but I did wiggle them all to make sure they were all
seated properly. 

Finally (and this may have been what did the trick) I sprayed some Deoxit
onto the DIN pins where you plug in the Memory Cartridge, and then wiped
each pin with a cotton swab.

Then I plugged it in, powered it up, and everything was working perfectly!

Unfortunately, then I decided to reassemble the case and put it back into
the rack. After doing that, it wouldn't work. I get power (voice card
lights are on) but the display is blank and the lights are wonky. So I
opened it up and re-checked everything, and even tried it with my old
Display & Switch Board, but no dice. So I handed it off to a local tech
who's brilliant with vintage gear... *SIGH*

Anyway, I noticed I was getting some crud off the pins when I was cleaning
them off; I would suggest to anyone having problems to make sure the pins
are all straight and clean. Many years ago I had a Kawai voice ROM that
was missing one of it's pins, and I had to solder some wire in place to
get it to work in my R-100. It may seem obvious, but do a visual
inspection to verify that all the pins are there - they can snap off or
get bent...


all my best,
- Scott