poppy, your head choices are all good ones, the black heads are very cool but the color does have a great effect on the sound, black heads are not as loud, and have a more muffled tone than white or clear heads!!! take the fiberskyns put them on the batter side and the pinstripes on the bottom try that head combo, i've used that one a few times, i think you'll like that tone !!.

I think pinstripes on top and single ply clear on bottom.

How bout black pinstripes?

all's good, it will be a more muffled tone!!

Coated ambassadors. Top and bottom.

I have to have clear on at least one side so I can admire my handywork on the insides of the shells, they are goinna look fabulous inside and out

Just throwing out my 2 cents here, for whatever it's worth...

I dont think you should use the black/ebony heads. I dont think anyone should use them and I dont think companies should even make them.

That being said, I do love the color black, black heads can look great on a drum set, and I can understand someone wanting to make that aesthetic choice for their set. HOWEVER, I have two main complaints against black heads:

1. As batters, they get black ink/dye all over your sticks and it gets all over your cymbals and heads that aren't black. Most drummers, myself included, dont want to have to clean their cymbals. But when you get all that black gunk on your cymbal, well, no one wants that.

2. After a while, the black starts to come off the head on its own, sort of breaks down or disintegrates or whatever. At that point it gets all over your edges and inside your drum. This is why I dont like them for reso heads either, and since I dont chage my reso heads often, this just makes them a no go for me.

Now, if the companies could correct these two problems, then maybe we can talk. But until then, I just say no to black/ebony heads of any kind.

If I were you, I would use clear Ambs or G1s as reso heads so you can see the inside of the drum, and depending on the sound you're going for, use the Fiberskyns, Pinstripes, Emperors, or try coated Pinstripes for your batter heads. On the bass drum, I always go with a white reso head and a clear batter. That's what I think looks best and it usually works for me sound wise.

Good luck with your selection. Sorry about the Soap Box

Ok, that makes a lot of sense believe it or not. A long time ago, I bought a couple of dozen dave Weckle signiture drum sticks. They were all a maroon color. I just thought they were so cool. I had several pairs down at the jam hole on my house drums there. next thing I know, all my heads have little maroon dots all over them. Regular natural colored sticks leave marks, but not like these sticks did. I still have several pair and will never use them again. Its hard to keep a drum kit looking good, I like mine to look good. These drums will probably never see a gig. They will go in my music room and be displayed till I die, then my kids will probably sell em for nothin. I already have a whole set of fiberskyns and a whole set of remo pinstripes. Maybe I should just put them on and forget about spending another $150.

Thanks for the eye opener Eye Ball

My two cents:

If I was going to be playing rock with the kit, I would put clear reso heads on the toms and evans g2 coated heads on the batters, a coated ambassador on the reso kick and a coated Emad on the batter kick, but since you seem to like the pinstripes:

Put some clear Evans resonant or G1 clear or clear Ambassadors on the reso sides of the toms and throw your clear pinstripes on the batters (or go authentic 70's and get some black dot Remos CS)! Then get a coated ambassador for the bass drum reso head and throw an authentic 70's Ludwig decal on there and whatever bass drum batter head you like.

For some reason I dont think that fiberskyns are the coolest heads on a 70's Ludwig kit. Thats just me though.

Either way it is gonna be awesome! Do what you like! Those are just my suggestions.

-Adam