First, the dissonance you are hearing may be due to pitch bend. Personally, I hate PB (some people like it), so I always tune my reso heads as close to my batter heads as humanly possible.

Second, I totally agree with the coated Emperor / clear Ambasador combo. It will cut down on overring. But I would also recommend trying the modern Vintage Ambassadors. They are warmer than regular coated Ambassadors but not as thumps as Emperors.

And if you really want to bring some thunder, try the modern Vintage Emperors. Awesome, awesome heads.

To some of us, tuning doesn't come naturally. I'm a good example of this and I think that the drums I own bring an even greater challenge to tune right.

I've been around and around all my heads numerous times and when I think I have them where I want, next day they sound off. Plus I get tired of trying different head combinations and re-tuning all the time.

You know what I wish, I wish that the manufacturer, in my case, Ludwig would have stamped inside each shell what key a particular drum sounds best at. I know I know it's all subjective. But at least it would be a base setting where the maker of the drum has determined that this drum sounds best when tuned to this key or whatever.

I've read that each drum has what is called it's own "timbre" and that you should try to tune towards that key to make it really sing. In my case, I find it hard to hear that "timbre" on my stainless shells.

"You don't tune a drum, you tension it"

Bernard Rich.

Many smaller drum shops worth their salt will let you try some different head combos if you are interested in buying a set of heads. I spent a couple of hours in a shop once with a 13" tom and they went through a bunch of options with me, we both tuned, played, listened from up close, far away... You get the picture. It was an eye opening experience and it was fun! End result - I went with Evans heads on that particular kit.

To my ears, Evans G2 Coated heads are the best fit for vintage Slingerland toms. Ive tried a lot of different stuff and I always come back to G2 Coated top and G1 clear bottoms. Snares and bass drums are another story.

-Adam

Have you checked your bearing edges are in good condition?

Take the skin off and lay it on a known flat surface - it should sit flat. If not, you might gave a bearing edge problem.

Also check the shape and see if there are any flat spots.

All of my biggest tuning problems have been bearing edge related.

What I've found having owned a set of 3-ply Slingerlands for a whopping five days...

1. Pinstripes are way underrated. They tame ring and reduce sustain a hair, but in no way do the drums sound dead when tuned to medium tension. Give them a shot.

2. Take the drum off the stand or bass (wherever it's mounted) and see if the tone changes. With my old 70's snare stand, the tom is completely dead. As in, "thwap" and then ringing. On the bass drum, it's somewhat opened up. On my Pearl Eliminator snare stand with rubber air pockets, it's almost as good as holding it from the top rim.

3. Same with the floor tom. My floor is concrete with a thin layer of carpet. Floor tom sounds dead with tons of ring. I put it in a different room with carpet and padding, it opened up a good bit. For some reason I grabbed three little Moongel containers and put the floor tom on it, and it sings and sings now. I'll be picking up some of those Pearl air pocket feet.

moon gels and pinstripes those are modern day replacements for good onboard mufflers it is a shame they quit putting them on drums...

Agreed.

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