The shells are 3 ply with re-rings, not the thicker ply shells.

I was thinking that I should go with coated for brushes. But I am debating the Ambas/Emp vs. the fiberskyns. From reading your descriptions, I think I am leaning towards emperor's since I am looking to play multiple styles and might want something a little more controlled. For the most part I want to play softer, more warm sounding, without it ringing forever. I'm not the guy who wants to beat the **** out of the drums with the volume cranked to 11. I think my wife would kill me.

Would you recommend matching the batter and resonating heads? Or mix things up?

On the contrary, this was exactly what I was looking for. It's been years since I have played and deciding which heads has my head spinning. I don't want to dump all this money on heads that I'm not going to like.

Depends on how you want to play them, too. I play really light, acoustic jazz -lots of brushwork -7A sticks with the nylon tips pulled off -that kind of quiet. I prefer Diplomats (coated). They are 7.5 mil. thickness whereas the Ambassadors are 10 mil.. At the tensioning I prefer, I get a better response from the thinner, lighter Diplomats. But, on my Arbiter set, I prefer clear Ambassadors (except a coated snare head) because I think they work better with the thicker shells of the Arbiters.

Generally -very generally speaking, there are three drumheads in the world. They are: 7.5 mil./ 10 mil./ and...whatever mil. the Emperors are (I forget!). You can get coated or clear. Other than that, I don't feel the need for any other specialized drumheads. But, that's me.Mister T

If you get an Ambassador and a Diplomat combination, for each drum, then you can switch them around and see which you like better. It will give you the option for a true vintage sound and a more modern/vintage sound that way.

"I think I am leaning towards emperor's since I am looking to play multiple styles and might want something a little more controlled. "

If your gonna go real soft you may want ambassadors vs. emperors.... Emperors give you more punch but you gotta lay into 'em a little more than an ambassador.