Alesis Crimson II SE Review: Big Pads for the Money, With an Older Brain

The Alesis Crimson II SE was the “bigger pads for not much more” kit in the Alesis range from 2020 until the Crimson III arrived in January 2025 (around NAMM), and it is still on sale. It gives you a 12-inch snare on its own stand, a 10-inch floor tom, two 12-inch crashes with choke and a 14-inch three-zone ride. That’s a big step up in size from the 8- and 10-inch pads on most beginner kits.

The module is where you have to be realistic. It’s the same family as the Command module, with 74 kits, 671 sounds, sample import and USB recording. It’s capable, but its sounds and dynamics feel older than the pads around it.

I have not tested this kit. This review draws on retailer spec sheets (Musician’s Friend, Guitar Center, Long & McQuade, Thomann), a detailed test on the German site Bonedo, and patterns in owner reviews, mainly the written reviews on Thomann. When sources disagree, I say so.

Is the Crimson II SE still sold new?

Yes, as of November 3, 2026, but supply looks limited in the US:

• Musician’s Friend listed it as in stock and ready to ship, new, with only a few units showing.
• Thomann listed it as in stock and ready to ship, and notes it has been available since June 2020.
• Long & McQuade still has a live product page, though it couldn’t show delivery information from its supplier.
• Guitar Center had open-box units marked “limited stock.”

I’d treat it as current but in short supply, and not be surprised if it disappears in 2027.

The successor question. In January 2025, around NAMM, Alesis launched the Crimson III. Going by MusicRadar’s spec list (summarized in our Alesis brand guide), it keeps the same layout: a 12-inch snare, two 8-inch toms and a 10-inch floor tom, all dual-zone, a 12-inch hi-hat, two 12-inch crashes, a 14-inch three-zone ride and an 8-inch kick pad, with a hi-hat pedal but no kick pedal. The module is the big change: 80 kits, 470 BFD-based sounds, Bluetooth, faders, SD card recording and sample import. If the two cost about the same where you shop, the Crimson III is the better buy. The Crimson II SE only makes sense at a clear discount.

Above the Crimson, Alesis sells the Strata line. The Strata Core has a BFD3 touchscreen module but similar pad sizes. The flagship is the Strata Prime. There’s also a standard Crimson II kit with smaller pads. Check the full name and pad list on any listing, because “Crimson II” alone usually means the non-SE kit.

Our verdict in brief

On paper, the Crimson II SE gives you as much pad real estate as anything Alesis sells in its price bucket, matched only by the newer Crimson III. The 12-inch snare on a separate stand lets you place it like an acoustic snare. The 14-inch three-zone ride has a bell. Two 12-inch crashes with choke cover the basics of cymbal playing. Thomann’s customer reviews are strongly positive, and owners there praise the value, the sturdy rack and the large mesh pads.

The complaints are just as consistent. The stock sounds are widely described as artificial. The dynamics feel uneven. The hi-hat controller is basic. And you have to buy a kick pedal before you can play it.

Our score: 7.8 / 10. Big pads for the money, if you add a pedal, are willing to run drum software, and find it clearly cheaper than a Crimson III.

Who it’s for and who should skip it

Good fit

• Beginners who already know they’re serious. Bigger pads mean less adjustment when you sit at an acoustic kit.
• Intermediate players upgrading from an 8-inch-pad kit. The jump to a 12-inch snare and 14-inch ride is the upgrade you’ll feel most.
• Drummers who plan to use drum software. The pads and ride bell give a plugin more to work with than a starter kit.
• Tinkerers. WAV and MP3 sample import, kit editing and USB recording.

Skip it if

• You want an all-in-one box. There’s no kick pedal, throne or headphones.
• You want Bluetooth play-along. It isn’t there.
• You want a realistic hi-hat. It’s a pad and a controller pedal, not a hi-hat on a stand.
• Your room is tiny. This is a full-size kit. Thomann lists about 130 x 100 cm of floor space, roughly 51 x 39 inches, before the throne.

What’s in the box

Not included: a kick pedal, a throne and headphones. Musician’s Friend says plainly that the kick pedal is sold separately, and Bonedo confirms there isn’t one in the box. Thomann’s listing also leaves out the hi-hat pedal, but Musician’s Friend, Guitar Center and Long & McQuade all include it. It may depend on the market, so check before you order.

Thomann adds a free Melodics code for 60 lessons. Bundled lesson offers change, so don’t count on one.

The rack description. Musician’s Friend calls it a premium four-post chrome rack, while Bonedo describes a black-coated aluminum rack with chrome cymbal arms. Finishes may have changed over the years. Either way, it’s a four-post design with a separate snare stand.

The module and sounds

Kits and sounds

The Crimson II module has 74 kits (54 factory and 20 user) and 671 sounds, with 120 play-along tracks, a metronome (30 to 280 BPM) and 64-voice polyphony, according to Musician’s Friend and Long & McQuade. Bonedo breaks the songs down as 60 play-along tracks, 60 percussion loops and one-shots, and 5 user MIDI song slots.

Editing

Per kit you get master volume and a three-band EQ. Per voice you can set volume, pan, pitch (plus or minus 8 semitones), reverb level and decay, per Bonedo. There’s reverb, mute groups, tap tempo and six selectable dynamic curves. User kits can be saved to USB.

Sample import

You can load WAV or MP3 files from a USB stick and assign them to pads. Bonedo gives the limits: up to 15 MB in total, which is about three minutes of mono audio at 44.1 kHz, spread across 99 slots. You can only delete samples all at once, not one by one. That’s enough for a few signature snares or electronic sounds. It isn’t enough to build a full multisampled kit.

Recording

You can record 5 tracks internally or up to 99 on a USB stick, according to Long & McQuade. Bonedo says recordings save to USB as MP3. It’s an easy way to hear your own playing back.

How it sounds

This is the main weakness. Thomann owners widely describe the built-in sounds as artificial or poor, and Bonedo’s tester found limited tonal change between soft and hard hits, with at most three layers on the snare and a jump in the mid-range dynamics. He measured about 8 ms of latency, which he called acceptable.

The good news: owners say the kit sounds much better driving external sample libraries over USB MIDI. With a 12-inch snare and a three-zone ride, a drum plugin has more to work with than on smaller kits. Our drum VST guide lists good options.

A hi-hat quirk with software

Bonedo found one specific problem when using the Crimson II with external sounds: open and closed hi-hat sounds share one MIDI note, so the hi-hat can cut off when you press the pedal. Thomann owners mention similar hi-hat MIDI issues. Bonedo noted that the cheaper Command kit doesn’t have this problem. If you plan to run drum software, test the hi-hat mapping early and check for a firmware update on the Alesis support site.

Pads and feel

Snare

The 12-inch dual-zone mesh snare is the headline feature. It sits on its own double-braced stand, so you can position it independently from the rack, just like an acoustic snare. The bigger surface makes rimshots, ghost notes and cross-sticking feel more natural.

Toms

Two 8-inch rack toms and a 10-inch floor tom, all dual-zone mesh. The floor tom’s extra size helps, though 8-inch rack toms are still small for adult hands. The kit has an extra input for a fourth tom if you want to add one.

Kick

The 8-inch mesh kick pad sits on a tower. Since there’s no pedal in the box, you can choose one that suits you from the start. Our kick pedal guide covers single and double pedals that fit e-kit towers.

Cymbals and hi-hat

The cymbals are a real upgrade from the 10-inch pads on cheaper Alesis kits. The two 12-inch crashes have choke. The 14-inch ride has three zones (bow, bell and edge) and choke, per Bonedo. The cymbal surfaces are rubber.

The 12-inch hi-hat is a single-zone pad with a foot controller. Thomann owners say it doesn’t feel much like a real hi-hat, and some report the MIDI output doesn’t always follow the foot. Some also report cymbal velocity issues, crosstalk and double triggers, which they say can usually be reduced in the trigger settings.

Hardware and footprint

The four-post rack gets good marks. Bonedo called it very stable, with plastic clamps that open without taking the kit apart and metal L-arms for the toms. Thomann owners describe it as sturdy, stable on carpet and simple to set up.

Dimensions and weight. Thomann lists about 130 x 100 cm of floor space, roughly 51 x 39 inches. The module is 230 x 160 x 69 mm (about 9.1 x 6.3 x 2.7 inches) and weighs 0.5 kg (about 1.1 lb), per Bonedo. I couldn’t find a published total kit weight. Add room for a throne and getting in and out, and plan for about 5 by 5 feet. Our guide on how much space electronic drums need explains how to measure.

Noise for apartments

Mesh heads on the drums keep stick noise down. The rubber cymbal surfaces tap louder, and a 14-inch ride gives you more surface to hit. The kick tower is the main problem for neighbors, since every beater strike sends a thump into the floor.

On a carpet you’ll cut some of that. In an upstairs apartment, plan on a riser or platform under at least the kick and hi-hat pedals. Our guide on making electronic drums quieter walks through the options.

Connectivity

From Long & McQuade, Musician’s Friend and Bonedo:

• 25-pin multi-pin input for the pads
• 2 extra pad inputs (Tom 4 and Crash 2)
• 2 x 1/4-inch TRS main outputs
• 1/8-inch headphone output
• 1/8-inch aux input
• 5-pin MIDI in and out
• USB MIDI to a computer
• USB host port for a thumb drive
• 9 V DC, 500 mA power

Thomann’s listing also mentions two 1/4-inch aux outputs, which the US listings don’t. I’d confirm on the unit before planning around them.

Not included: Bluetooth and USB audio. To record the module’s own sounds, connect the main outputs to an audio interface. For drum software, use USB MIDI.

What owners say

I haven’t included an owners block, since I couldn’t verify individual thread URLs. These are the patterns from Thomann’s written reviews and other sources, in my own words.

What owners like:

• Strong value for large mesh pads and multi-zone cymbals.
• A sturdy, stable rack that’s simple to set up.
• Comfortable mesh heads and good pad sensitivity.
• Choke on the cymbals and the bell on the ride.
• A feature-rich module with lots to edit.

What owners complain about:

• Built-in sounds that feel artificial.
• A learning curve on the module menus.
• A hi-hat pedal that doesn’t feel like a real hi-hat.
• Some cymbal velocity issues, crosstalk and double triggers, usually fixable in settings.
• Having to buy a kick pedal separately.

Problems and fixes

1. The hi-hat cuts off in drum software

Open and closed sounds share one MIDI note, per Bonedo. Remap the hi-hat in your drum plugin, check for a module firmware update, and test before a recording session.

2. Double triggers or crosstalk

Lower sensitivity or raise the threshold on the affected pad, then adjust crosstalk cancel. Change one setting at a time and test after each.

3. Dynamics feel jumpy

Try each of the six dynamic curves on the snare. Owners using drum software often get smoother dynamics there.

4. Sample import is full

The total sample memory is about 15 MB. Trim files, convert to mono and keep only the samples you use. Remember, clearing is all or nothing.

5. No sound from the kick

Check that you’ve bought and fitted a kick pedal, since there isn’t one in the box, and that the kick cable is plugged into the snake.

Buying a used Crimson II SE

The Crimson II SE has been on sale since 2020, so there are plenty of used kits around. That’s good for prices, but older kits have had more time to collect problems. Here’s what I’d check on this model in particular.

• Every zone on the ride. Hit the bow, bell and edge separately, and grab the edge to test the choke. A dead bell zone is the most likely fault to go unnoticed in a quick demo.
• Both crashes. Choke each one.
• The snare stand. It’s a separate piece, so make sure it comes with the kit and that the basket holds the 12-inch pad firmly.
• The hi-hat. Play closed, half open and open, then foot chick. Owners already describe the controller as basic, so a worn one is worse.
• USB host port. Plug in a thumb drive and see whether the module reads it.
• Cable snake and power supply. The 25-pin snake is kit-specific, and the module needs a 9 V, 500 mA supply.
• Lesson codes. Any bundled Melodics code was almost certainly used by the first owner.

Factor in the kick pedal. A used kit that comes with a decent pedal is worth more than one without. Since the kit is still sold new, buy used only at a clear discount to the new price, and remember you lose the warranty.

Upgrades worth buying

• A kick pedal. You need one on day one.
• A drum throne and headphones. Neither is included.
• Drum software. The single biggest improvement on this kit.
• A fourth tom or second ride via the Tom 4 and Crash 2 inputs.
• A riser if you live above anyone.

Alternatives

Alesis Crimson III

The 2025 replacement with the same pad layout, a BFD-based module with 470 sounds and Bluetooth. If the price gap is small, buy this instead. Our Crimson III review covers it in full.

Alesis Strata Core

A bigger step up in price, with a BFD3 touchscreen module but similar pad sizes (8-inch toms, 8-inch kick tower). It costs a good deal more, but it fixes the Crimson’s biggest weakness, the older module. Read the Strata Core review.

Alesis Command Mesh SE

The cheaper kit with the same module family, smaller pads (10-inch snare, 8-inch toms, 10-inch cymbals) and a kick pedal included. Bonedo notes it doesn’t have the Crimson’s hi-hat MIDI quirk. See our Command Mesh SE review.

Simmons SD1250

A similar idea from Simmons: a 12-inch snare on a stand, two 8-inch and two 10-inch toms, a 14-inch three-zone ride and sample import. Like the Crimson, it doesn’t include a kick pedal. Read the SD1250 review.

Alesis Strike Pro SE (used)

If you’re open to used gear, the discontinued Strike Pro SE gives you acoustic-size drums and cymbals. It needs more space and more setup work, and its hi-hat takes careful calibration. Our Strike Pro SE review covers what to check before you buy one used.

Final thoughts

The Crimson II SE is still one of the most sensible ways to get big pads without paying Strata prices. It’s a kit you set up like a real drum set, with a ride bell and a snare on its own stand. Pair it with a good kick pedal and drum software and it will carry an intermediate player a long way. If sounds out of the box matter most, though, look at newer modules first.