A head is a head is a head. switch at will. The only time this is not true are snare side heads,

They do make the vintage Ambassadors in 15". I have one on a snare.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0030M2EG8/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Huh. I checked earlier today on what I thought would be the authority on that, Remo's own website and didn't see it in a 15".

But upon modifying their product codes and Googling that, it came up. Interesting! Well that's cool I guess. And now to actually find some, it seems 15" heads aren't too in demand around here.

My 15" is my favorite drum, for sure. Not sure why they aren't more common.

You can order the head from here too:

http://www.samash.com/p/Remo_Vintage%20A%20Coated%20Drum%20Head_566279

It's fairly rare to use a 2 ply head on the reso side.

- From the Smooth White Ambassador page on Remo's website.

I was commenting on the vintage coated ambassadors which are two ply.

Yeah I'd stay away from the smooth white on the reso side if you can. They are great for many applications so don't get me wrong! But for this rock music you speak of, I'd stay with coated emp's or vintage amb's on the BATTER and then a standard single ply coated amb on the RESO. The smooth white heads have a lot more opportunity for overtone ring and tend to be a bit brighter, losing some of their low end. All of this is just my opinion of course, but hey, that's why were all here! Good luck and hit us with a pic!

-Beau

Oh! Absolutely! Wow, what a dumb move on my part, I hadn't even thought of it. I just knew about the classic Emperor over Ambassador setup, and figured the same would carry into the "vintage" series ones. Well, for those who were curious, it actually sounds pretty decent. But, that's also because of the high tuning, I'd have to imagine it wouldn't be so great at a lower tuning.

Well I guess that settles that, I'm going to switch. That kind of brings up another question though. The local drum specific shop just started stocking Ludwig stuff, and I'm curious to see how one of their heads would stack up to an equivalent Remo one. Given that I'm going for a vintage sound, might as well stick with a vintage approach.

Attached is a picture of John Bonham from early on in the Zep days.

Now, my understanding was that he played Coated Emperors over Coated Ambassadors, but that his kick reso was a Ludwig Medium (smooth white). Now, in this picture, the bottom of that rack tom looks like it's reflecting much in the way the smooth white bass drum is. I can't make out a logo on that nor any other pictures I've seen where the bottom head is evident. So, what exactly are those bottom heads? Were there 2 different types of Ambassadors made (one 2-ply 7.5- and 3-mil and one 10-mil like the modern ones)? Anyone able to chime in on that?