For the Abbey Road sessions, I believe Ringo used batter head only on the BD. Not sure what muffling was used, since a blanket was placed over the BD....and cloths or towels were placed on the toms for most tunes.

There has been a showing recently on The History Channel about Beatles recordings from "Please Please Me" through "Abbey Road" with lots of film clips and photos. You might look to see when it runs again.

I don't have TV, but it seems to me that I recall most of the later sessions were sans the front head. It was very dead and unappealing to my ears.

Have you looked into the hydraulic heads??? They could be tuned very loose and would give you that dead deep thump you may be hearing in your head. They come in a couple of colors which might also appeal to you. This would keep you from having to have a clear head on the reso side.

Yeah - Pretty much any coated batter head tuned fairly low, no reso and a pillow should do it. Not my cup of tea these days, but that was my thud producing technique back in the day (late 70's).

Ringo's bass sound on Abbey Road (and the Let it Be sessions) was accomplished using a coated ambassador for the batter, no front head, a big blanket stuffed into the drum, and placing the mic close to the head. Gives you that low dead thud sound. Kind of like a cardboard box. Funny Post

I used to play that way alot just put a coated emporer on and use a felt strip under it with no front head ..

Only reason is that my band is looking to cover Abbey Road and I want that sound. I really don't want to look at a blanket in my drum with no resonant head on it. I guess I will see what it sounds like with the head on and a blanket inside.

I don't know if an Evans EQ Pad Bass Drum Muffler would accomplish your need, but it may be a bit less conspicuous.

I use an Evans EQ3 (batter) and EQ2 (reso) on my 24 incher, with the muffler (the long strap type) pretty tight and I can get a nice, deep sound, whilst controlling the overtones. Might not be the look you want (and I have no idea what Ringo's Abbey Road kick sounded like). Just a contemporary suggestion for BD sound control. Good luck.

If this is for live gigs, go ahead with a resonant head and try miking the batter head..........don't bother oiling your pedal, Ringo's squeaked some.