I've got a 48-52 Wfl that is setup with single tension and calf heads. Love the way it sounds. Never have to mess with the tuning either. Moleskin pad and a wool beater.

Mike

Like Mike I love single tension drums they are very easy to tune and sound every bit as good a a double tension drums. I own a bunch of them single tension drums that is.

Yes, they are easy to tune, but the batter head and reso head are seldom the exact same pitch. I tune my 24" so the reso head is producing the desired pitch, as that is the head that the audience is hearing.

Mike

I don't tune any of my heads the same to exact pitch of each other, I use a tama tension watch to tune the head with the t rods side is always a higher pitch than the other head is which is how I tune anyway. Meaning the batter head has a higher pitch than the reso head does,

Here's one I cut down from 25" to 22". Love it. Emad batter and coated Amb reso, so there's no way they'll ever sound anything remotely the same. I added washers to the alignment pins [or whatever you call them] to raise them and combat some rather severe bowing downward in the middle. Result is I now have to tune it up to where the rods don't rattle...oh well still sounds great.

Mitch

Well the Sleishman free floating system is much more sophisticated than just a single tension drum... and the engineering and build quality ensure that the heads are much closer in pitch than other systems..

At the recent show in Sydney I was truly impressed with both the sound and ease of tuning these kits...

Take a look here for the basics..

John

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seOUh8--l6Y"]The Sleishman System - by the Sleishman Drum Company - YouTube[/ame]

John thanks for posting this, man these drums sound awesome.

The best sounding bass drum I ever owned was a single-tension Ludwig 14x22, originally blue/silver duco. Wouldn't it be funny if this set-up made a comeback...

I had a single tension mahogany Ludwig 22x14 bass drum shell and hoops that i picked up for peanuts, then sold it like an imbecile.. It was one of the warmest, punchiest bass drums i've ever owned..It had the bow tie lugs..