Post by John on May 19, 2012 10:26:19 GMT -5
I purchased a Ddrum 3 in '95 or '96 and had it upgraded to 2.0 Turbo. I also bought 6 pads and two tube triggers; at the time, I didn't know much about it, but had seen other drummers with 6 or more pads and didn't realize that they were probably using more than one module.
I wanted smaller pads, but 8" was no longer available, so I settled for 6".
A short time later, I noticed a few hairline cracks forming around the perimeter on a couple of the pads, perhaps 1/4" long. I found this very odd (and very upsetting) since I hadn't transported them, banged them around or put them through any kind of abuse whatsoever. I try to take care of my expensive equipment.
So I called Armadillo, and the guy in charge there (I forget his name) was a jerk. He was very indifferent and uncaring about my situation, despite my having spent, I think, around $200 per pad. I told him that it seemed to me that the plastic was defective or hadn't cured properly. He said no, that he doubted that; that I had probably just torqued them down too tightly or something. So that was all; he had zero interest in discussing it further, and I was stuck with brand new pads which were starting to crack.
I was disgusted and deeply disappointed and just packed the whole thing away in a box. All this time they've been sitting in climate-controlled storage, never used again. Since that time, I've occasionally seen some Ddrum pads in pawn shops which looked as though they had been hauled around in the back of a pickup truck for years without cases; deeply dented, scratched and scraped - but NO cracks whatsoever. So I figure that the plastic must be defective.
I pulled everything out of storage recently, wondering what I should do with this unit. While it's very encouraging to read of the high regard electronic drummers still have for Ddrum 3 after all this time (I had thought it would be considered a worthless dinosaur by now) I'm also wondering what practical use it has for me, if replacement parts can't be found? I can use other pads, but if I can't maintain the sound module then it seems to me that I couldn't rely on it for gigs and touring. Eventually, as with all electronics, something will fail, even though it probably has a lot of life left in it; it probably has less than 20 hours of use.
I really don't have hundreds of dollars to invest in broken units in the hope of salvaging parts, nor the time or the interest to seek them out, along with the trouble of finding someone who knows how to repair them, etc, etc.
So I'm thinking of just selling everything, while I've still got something of value, and buying a module I can maintain, even though it may not be as good as this one. I'm wondering what others would say. Even under these circumstances, would I be a fool to sell it? Have others found ways to maintain their modules despite the difficulty of obtaining parts?
I wanted smaller pads, but 8" was no longer available, so I settled for 6".
A short time later, I noticed a few hairline cracks forming around the perimeter on a couple of the pads, perhaps 1/4" long. I found this very odd (and very upsetting) since I hadn't transported them, banged them around or put them through any kind of abuse whatsoever. I try to take care of my expensive equipment.
So I called Armadillo, and the guy in charge there (I forget his name) was a jerk. He was very indifferent and uncaring about my situation, despite my having spent, I think, around $200 per pad. I told him that it seemed to me that the plastic was defective or hadn't cured properly. He said no, that he doubted that; that I had probably just torqued them down too tightly or something. So that was all; he had zero interest in discussing it further, and I was stuck with brand new pads which were starting to crack.
I was disgusted and deeply disappointed and just packed the whole thing away in a box. All this time they've been sitting in climate-controlled storage, never used again. Since that time, I've occasionally seen some Ddrum pads in pawn shops which looked as though they had been hauled around in the back of a pickup truck for years without cases; deeply dented, scratched and scraped - but NO cracks whatsoever. So I figure that the plastic must be defective.
I pulled everything out of storage recently, wondering what I should do with this unit. While it's very encouraging to read of the high regard electronic drummers still have for Ddrum 3 after all this time (I had thought it would be considered a worthless dinosaur by now) I'm also wondering what practical use it has for me, if replacement parts can't be found? I can use other pads, but if I can't maintain the sound module then it seems to me that I couldn't rely on it for gigs and touring. Eventually, as with all electronics, something will fail, even though it probably has a lot of life left in it; it probably has less than 20 hours of use.
I really don't have hundreds of dollars to invest in broken units in the hope of salvaging parts, nor the time or the interest to seek them out, along with the trouble of finding someone who knows how to repair them, etc, etc.
So I'm thinking of just selling everything, while I've still got something of value, and buying a module I can maintain, even though it may not be as good as this one. I'm wondering what others would say. Even under these circumstances, would I be a fool to sell it? Have others found ways to maintain their modules despite the difficulty of obtaining parts?
