My personal favorites are the evans EQ series, 1-4. All of my bass drums have one of these heads with the exceptions being a 22 XP8 Rogers and a 24 Rogers Big R 5 ply. The XP8 Rogers kit I recently bought has an emad on it, and, if this set decides to remain at my house, that will go. I think the emad is rather overkill, and frankly not something an experienced player would want, especially for live, unmiked play. I think all projection is lost with that head. Might be better in a studio situation. My 24" Rogers has a PS3 Pinstripe Clear batter, and it works behind a solid front fiberskyn medium.

For reso heads, the majority of my bass drums are dressed with a Remo Fiberskyn Medium (Ambassador). One of the 18s has an original Rogers logo clear ambassador with a small port. One of the 22s has an Evans EQ3 Ebony with port. The Steel Gray Ripple 20 has a Remo Fiberskyn PS3 as the reso, and I really like it.

Slinger = be sure to read through this thread as you will probably get the opinions you are seeking there:

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=11505&highlight=bass+sound

John

Make sure you know what it is you are truly looking for from an idiomatic standpoint. Also consider the environments in which you typically play. There are lots of different drum sounds and techniques available but not all work with every style of music and every live performance situation.

When people post here about their favorite head set up or tuning method, the reader seldom has a good idea if the poster is someone that plays at their home only, plays clubs, plays arenas, or what style of music they play. If I am playing in an 80's pop cover band that plays a lot of high energy clubs in amplified situations, the guy that posted his favorite kick set up that plays 4 piece jazz in a 20 person club is not necessarily going to give you the help you need.

Certainly no one here is trying to steer you wrong and everyone's input is valid. I am only suggesting that you understand what you are reading and try to make an informed decision before spending $60-$100 on kick drum heads and various muting devices.

I do suggest checking out all of Bob Gatzen's drum tuning videos on YouTube and download the Drum Tuning Bible as reference points. Best of luck to you.

Iam old school...I play and like Remo P/S on top and bass drum ...Remo abbs. whites on bottom......Mikey

Context: My band plays indie pop/rock original material. We play mostly small to medium local venues (clubs, restaurants, theaters) and nearly always have sound reinforcement for the bass drum, either through the venue's sound guy or I always carry my Shure Beta 52a in case we have to run our own sound.

For the batter side, I use an Aquarian Force 1 bass drum batter (single ply with vented muffling ring) or a Remo Powerstroke 3. For the resonant side, I use many different models, an Aquarian Regulator with the 4.75" hole off-center, an Aquarian Regulator with 7" hole in the center, and Evans EQ3 with 5" hole off-center and a Remo with the 10" hole in the center (stock Yammy RC reso head).

I also employ some form of internal muffling on all my bass drums; the Evans pillow, a folded towel or a sheet loosely sitting in the bass drum.

That aticle drummjohn posted is a good read. and like mentioned here its subjective as to the kind of tunes you play, I still her poeple doing the pillow, I would asume with a combo like the SK11 and the regulator with the ring, you would not need one, but what do I know. I still cant figure out what heads to buy yet, I wish you could test heads like cymbals, at least you would get an idea. if anyone cares, here is a link to my band, perhaps if you heard the stuff we are doing I might get some more help.

www.ovrevolt.com

I hit hard, play hard

I use a mix of Arbiter Flats, and have specific requirements for a quiet bass drum. Obviously this is a tall order, but i decided to go for the more heavily muffled version of the SuperKick II, the Impact II, its the same drumhead but with a thicker foam muffling ring, on the 20" flats bass drum it gives a very satisfying sound, almost like a electronic bass drum sound, i love it.