mbira,

I tried a bunch on my Jazzette but came back to Ambassador coated top and bottom on the toms. The kick resonate side is also an Ambassador but I recently switched out the batter head to an Aquarian Super Kick 1 ply. It gave it a little less bounce and more punch, helping that little 18" cut through. Whatever you decide, crank 'em up...they sing at a higher pitch.

Gary

I use an aquarian Sk 1 for the bass Aquarian coated for the toms, they sound great to my ears

coated ambassador is the natural

thanks for the suggestions! I have never heard of Aquarian Super Kick 1 ply. I will see if any of the local music stores have these. Are these anything like remo powerstroke 3's?? I have liked these on bigger bass drums.

Someone here recommended an EMAD for my 18, & I'm happy with it.......marko

Single ply coated heads top and bottom will do the trick.

thanks tnsquint for both thread posts! One question; single ply coated for both sides of the bass drum too?

There are a lot of schools of thought on that. Most bop players in the day would have used that set up. The variation being a two ply coated batter as that was what was available. If you want a very traditional sound, that would be the way to go. If you want something a little more versatile then a Super Kick I or an EMAD would be fine choices as would the Remo PS3. Probably a coated version.

Regardless of technological advances, it's tough to beat the single ply over single ply or the two ply over single ply combinations for toms. You can get quite a lot out of those combinations.