Ludwig's Power Collar are my fav for Vistalites. The SilverDots were the period correct ones... but that was when dampening the edges wasn't fathomed.

PowerCollar sounds big and powerful, but with less overtones and more reasonable sustain.

I use SilverDots on some other drums when I want to just Mic them overhead and sound like I'm playing rock in an arena.. SD's are quite overtone rich, and loud. PowerCollar is much more controllable... hands down my fav for Vistalite.

thanks for the info vexorgtr! I appreciate it!

No problem.... Ludwig's USA made WeatherMaster's are my fav heads because of the way they Fit on the drums... it makes them easier to tune. and the films they use take longer to wear out than any of the other heads I've used... 12 years of buying drum heads for 5 different drum sets (I'm also a drum tech for a big church)... and nothing has ever tuned easier or lasted longer, and sounded more consistant drum to drum than the luds. I really would love to write an article with illustrations about the physics of a drum and what makes heads work and not.. but the bottom line is, how the head fits the drum is the biggest play on how it tunes and how it sounds. Ludwig's heads have a narrow ring on them.. it makes them mount better, ring cleaner, and tune easier. This doesn't mean I don't use others... the NEED IT NOW factor has got me to use Remo, Evans and Aquarian frequently.. so I'm up to date on who's making what. Aquarian is a better Fitting head than the other two... but I still vote Ludwig for best fit.

Let the flames from Remo fans begin.

I had an acrylic Star floor tom with clear Emperors on it, and it was the best-sounding floor tom I've ever played. Emps would probably mellow out the overtones a bit without muffling the drum.

True... that would be a good head for it... but Remo heads don't always fit the Vista shells that well. Vistalite shells tend to have a little fatter diameter, and it might not seat as well on the drum as the Ludwig heads.