Simmons SD350 Review: Is This Discontinued Kit Worth Buying Used?

The Simmons SD350 came out in 2017 as one of the cheapest mesh-head kits you could buy at a big retailer. It gave you 8-inch mesh pads on the snare and toms, three cymbal pads, a folding rack and a module with about 170 sounds. For a first kit at the time, that was a decent deal, and plenty of them were sold.

It is now discontinued. Nobody sells it new, but there are a lot of them on the used market, on Facebook Marketplace, Reverb, eBay and in Guitar Center’s used and open-box listings. So the real question in 2026 is not “is the SD350 good,” it is “is this used SD350 a good deal compared to a new Titan 20 or Titan 50 B-EX, and what should I check before handing over cash.”

This review answers that from the launch specs, retailer spec sheets, Drumsilent’s hands-on review and owner ratings. I have not played the kit myself.

Our score: 6.0 / 10. Mesh pads and a simple folding rack, but dated in every other way. A reasonable used kid’s kit, not much more.

SD350 status: discontinued

Musician’s Friend marks the SD350 as discontinued, and it no longer appears in the current Simmons kit lineup, which now runs from the Titan 20 up to the Titan 90. Guitar Center still lists used, open-box and blemished units from time to time, and private sellers list them constantly.

Simmons announced the SD350 in August 2017, with a street price in the $300 to $500 bracket. It sat at the bottom of the Simmons mesh-pad range.

Its closest current replacement is the Titan 20. It has a very similar layout: 8-inch mesh snare and toms, three 10-inch cymbals and a pedal-style kick trigger. But the Titan 20 adds a dual-zone snare, Bluetooth audio and MIDI, USB audio, a practice mode with scoring and a hex rack. That is the comparison every used SD350 has to win.

What a used SD350 is worth

I do not list exact prices because used prices depend on condition, location and what is included, and they change all the time. A few rules make it easy to judge a listing.

It should cost much less than a new Titan 20 on sale. The Titan 20 is a newer, better-connected version of the same idea, with a warranty. If an SD350 is close to that price, walk away.

Extras add some value, but only if they work. Simmons often sold the SD350 bundled with its DA50B Bluetooth drum monitor. A working monitor, throne or decent headphones make a used deal better.

Check what you are actually buying. It is easy to confuse the SD350 with similar older Simmons models in a listing photo. The SD350 has four 8-inch mesh pads, three round 10-inch rubber cymbals and a pedal with a built-in trigger, no separate kick tower.

My guide to buying used electronic drums covers the general checks for any used kit, including how to test pads and cables.

Who the SD350 is for, and who it is not for

Good fit

• Young kids whose parents want a cheap test of interest.
• Very small rooms, since the rack is compact and folds.
• Quiet homes. The kick trigger pedal and mesh pads keep floor noise down.
• Someone who finds one almost free, in working order.

Not a great fit

• Teens and adults. The pads are small and the kick pedal feels nothing like a real one.
• Anyone who wants to stream music. There is no Bluetooth. You need a cable into the aux input.
• Players who want to grow. No expansion inputs, no double pedal option and no real kick pedal upgrade.
• People who want a warranty. The Simmons two-year warranty does not help you on a secondhand kit.

What came in the box

From the launch specs, the Musician’s Friend listing and Drumsilent’s review:

When buying used, make sure the cable snake, power adapter and both pedals are included. The snake is a multi-pin connector, so a generic replacement cable will not work.

The module and sounds

Specs

The 10 preset kits are Maple, Funk, Studio, Hip Hop, Metal, Simmons, Jazz, Latin Percussion, LA Funk Rock and Techno, according to Drumsilent. There is a built-in metronome with tap tempo and a basic record and play function.

What the sounds are like

Drumsilent called the sounds “decent but not great” and rated the module 2 out of 5. That fits the age and the price. The kits sound fine for practice in headphones, but they are thin next to the newer Titan sounds recorded at London Bridge Studio.

The 10 songs are more demo tracks than proper play-alongs. They are there, but most kids will practice to music from a phone through the aux input instead.

Editing

Editing is minimal. You can reassign voices on each pad and save the result to the single user kit. The utility menu covers retrigger cancel, threshold, curve, crosstalk and MIDI note per pad, which is enough to fix double triggers and set up drum software.

At launch, Simmons offered a free iOS app called Simmons Drums Basic for sound editing and teaching tools. Since the module has no Bluetooth, the app needs a wired connection, and I would not count on it working well on a current iPhone or iPad.

There is no practice coach with timing scores. That is one of the clearest gaps compared with the Titan 20.

Pads and feel

Snare and toms

All four drum pads are 8-inch, two-ply mesh with tension rods. Mesh is the SD350’s best feature. It gives real stick rebound, and it is much quieter than rubber pads.

According to Drumsilent, the pads are single-zone: the snare rim does not trigger its own sound, so no rimshots or cross-stick. There is one sensor centered under each head, and the reviewer found the response fairly even. The toms are easier to play angled toward you like real toms.

Cymbals

The three cymbals are 10-inch rubber-on-plastic pads, all single-zone. There is no edge or bell zone and no choke. You hit them, they make a sound, and that is it. Simple, but fine for a child learning beats.

Hi-hat

The plastic hi-hat pedal has smooth action and feels decent underfoot, the reviewer says. It struggles with clean hi-hat “chick” sounds, and the move from half-open to closed can sound awkward depending on the kit. Fine for slow grooves, limiting for faster playing.

Kick trigger pedal

Like the Titan 20, the SD350 has no kick pad. The kick is a plastic pedal with a beater that moves down onto a built-in trigger. The reviewer found the spring loose and not adjustable, and the feel different from a swinging beater. Fast kick patterns are hard.

Double bass is not possible out of the box. The reviewer mentions two workarounds he did not test: a split cable with a second trigger pedal, or a Simmons kick tower with a real double pedal. I would not spend money on either for a kit this old. My explainer on kick towers vs kick pads has more on the different kick designs.

Hardware and footprint

The rack is compact, comes preassembled and folds for storage, small enough to slide into a closet. You attach the cymbal arms, mount the pads and plug in the snake. The reviewer had it set up in about half an hour, and the cables are clearly labeled.

The downsides are limited adjustment. The crash and ride sit on fixed vertical poles, so you cannot place them freely. With the module between the toms, the headphone jack on its left side is awkward to reach, and the reviewer moved the module to the right. The rack is sturdy once the clamps are tight.

Simmons did not publish assembled dimensions that I could find. It is in the same compact size class as the Titan 20, which is about 43 inches wide and 26 inches deep assembled.

Noise for apartments

The SD350 is a quiet kit. Mesh drum heads, rubber cymbals and a kick trigger pedal keep the noise down to taps and clicks. The kick pedal still sends some thump into the floor, but less than a beater on a kick tower. A rug under the pedals helps, and a thin foam mat under the kick pedal helps a bit more. Kids also tend to play harder than they need to, so turning the module up a little often makes them hit softer. My guide on making electronic drums quieter has the rest of the options.

Connectivity

USB MIDI is the SD350’s most useful connection today. Plug it into a computer and you can trigger modern drum software, which sounds much better than the module. My guide on connecting electronic drums to a computer shows how. There is no USB audio, so recording the module’s own sounds means running the line outputs into an audio interface.

The volume knob controls both the headphones and the line outputs, so you cannot set them separately.

What owners say

I could not verify specific owner threads, so these are patterns from ratings and reviews. Musician’s Friend shows 4.5 out of 5 from 34 reviews, and Gearank gives it 76 out of 100 based on more than 100 ratings. Most of those ratings came from first-time buyers judging a cheap kit at the time it was new.

What owners and reviewers like: mesh pads at a low price, quick setup, a sturdy preassembled rack and a good fit for kids.

What they do not like: single-zone pads, a kick pedal that does not feel real, a hi-hat that struggles with fast playing, a small sound library with one user kit, and the awkward headphone jack.

Buying a used SD350: what to check

1. Every pad. Hit each drum and cymbal softly and hard. A dead or weak pad usually means a bad sensor or snake connector.
2. The cable snake. Wiggle each lead while playing. Intermittent sound points to a damaged snake, which is hard to replace.
3. The kick pedal. Check the beater moves freely and the trigger responds at soft and hard strokes.
4. The hi-hat pedal. Make sure it moves from closed to open smoothly in the module.
5. The mesh heads. Look for tears or dents. 8-inch replacement mesh heads are easy to find.
6. Rack clamps. Plastic parts on older kits crack. Check every clamp tightens.
7. The power adapter. Make sure it is included and is the right 9V adapter.
8. USB MIDI. If you plan to use drum software, plug it into a laptop and check it shows up.

Problems and fixes

Alternatives

Simmons Titan 20

The current kit in the same spot. Dual-zone 8-inch snare, three 8-inch mesh toms, a kick trigger pedal, 103 sounds from the newer London Bridge Studio sessions, Bluetooth audio and MIDI, USB audio and a scored practice mode. My Titan 20 review has the details.

Simmons Titan 50 B-EX

A real step up: 10-inch dual-zone snare, four 8-inch toms, two crashes with choke, a 6-inch mesh kick pad with a real pedal (single or double) and 25 preset kits. The plain five-piece Titan 50 is discontinued, so buy the B-EX new. My Titan 50 review covers the shared module and pads.

A used Simmons SD600

If you are shopping used anyway, an SD600 gives you a 10-inch snare, dual-zone toms, a 12-inch ride and a kick tower. It costs more, but it is a much better kit. See my SD600 review.

For a full view of the current lineup, see my Simmons brand guide.

Final verdict

The SD350 was a reasonable cheap mesh kit in 2017. In 2026 it is a very basic used kit with single-zone pads, a trigger-pedal kick and no Bluetooth. It still works for a young child if you get it for very little and every pad works.

For anyone older, or if a new Titan 20 is on sale for not much more, skip it.