You might want to try an old school external bass drum muffler. It hooks up from the bass drum hoop and you can control it from the front head. Someone on this site probally will have one for sale. Here's a picture.

First off, congrats on your new (old) kit! I find that the front head resonance is very subjective and has many factors to consider..... Among the biggest two are the size of the bass drum and type of music. I usually prefer an original head set up on vintage kits. That means a coated amb up front. For 20" and larger I use an original felt strip. You can adjust the position closer and further from the edge and get different degrees of muffling. I have a Clev 18" bass drum where I just leave the front head wide open because it just sounds huge that way. It's all up to you and what sounds good to your ears.

I'm also in total agreement with SuperB..... Those external mufflers are great. You can adjust them to just kiss the head and take the edge off....

I have (and use) that exact same muffler. They work great and are adjustable so you can get any amount of muffling you want.

I've found that Aquarian's Regulator heads work great. You can get them without a hole in them and they seem to have just the right amount of muffling. In leau of that one you could also try their American Vintage heads. They are also premuffled with a felt strip....just enough......then there's always the old school felt strip and the afore mentioned external muffler.....

Thanks guys. The more I play it I think I'm just going to leave the front head open. It seems to be the way a lot of the Gretsch guys I've seen who are getting the sound I want have been doing it. I guess I'll figure out how to deal with any needs to muffle due to room acoustics later. The external muffle is a bit too large for me, like killing a squirrel with a bazooka.

Actually I don't know if you could call the kit old, and definitely not vintage (what is the "qualification" 20 years?), it was presumed it was an 80's Gretsch but it turns out it's only a 96-97 or so. Still, it's a Jasper and it looks and sounds fantastic.

Usually I just apply a bit of Velcro to the cat and slap her on the reso head. Works like a charm.

Barring that, I use a felt strip or an internal muffler (933 Ray McKinley). They are wonderful. I'm also liking the big round cookies you hang. Those are cool.

The only problem with these is that they can rattle....much like the internal ones for toms....

Wow, I didn't know that, my external muffler doesn't rattle. (My Rogers and Gretsch internal mufflers don't rattle either) Looks like Mr. Compactness is going to let rip naturally. Those drums are going to sing, have fun.