Remo coated Ambassadors all around upper and lower (except for snare side clear head) were standard on most American toms and snare drums back then.

Good advice. Verify that the Slingerland kit is in fact 3 ply, as all of this will be moot if it's the 5ply version.

I have found that the mid-70s Slingerland kits respond very well to coated Emps on top with coated Amb bottoms all the way around. I've swapped out too many combinations to list here, but to my ears this is the way to go. I can be a soft hitter and a heavy hitter, depending on where I play. I've also got one kit with the clear version of this setup and it sounds great in wide open very large venues. I like the coated Emp on the COB Krupa snares and the coated Amb on the wood snares. I'm currently running four Slingerland kits dating from the late 60s to the late 70s (68,71,76,79). All sound good with the coated Emp/Amb combo. But, take all this with a grain of salt. It really comes down to your ear.

Someone with bigger pants than mine will have to weigh in on the Rogers piece. I've only owned four Rogers kits and am still sorting out the head choices. Can't quite nail that one as clearly as the Slingerland's.

Thanks a lot for your help leedybdp and RogerSling. The Slingy's are 3-ply with re-rings, and a natural clear-coat maple finish. I've used coated Emporers on the tops of other kits before, but never coated Ambassadors on the bottoms - should give them a nice warm sound with coated tops and bottoms. Right now I've got coated Evans G1s on the tops and clear G1s on the bottoms of the Rogers kit, but I'm not getting the tones I'd like...maybe need to spend a little more time tuning them up...

Thanks again,

DB10

I had a '71 Rogers Power Tone/Holiday kit (14, 16, 18, 20 with a Ludwig Coliseum snare), and I used Pinstripes and Ambassadors on it. But remember that I was twenty years younger and tend to think of things in the past with a rosier glow.

Rogers had the "modern" bearing edges before anyone else (from what I understand). When I owned them, I didn't care about bearing edges- I just loved those drums and I miss them to this day.

I use a two ply on anything with a sharper edge, single ply on a rounded vintage edge. Evans or Remo, not much difference.