SK1 or SK2

unmic'd you'l want as much tone as you can get. "Tune for Boom" I heard someone say.....

For this the SK1 will be better.
The SK2 being two ply is more subdued.

Also for live unmic'd keep your front head intact - no hole
this really makes a difference in low end.

I have an emad 1 and a eq3 with port hole - when I switched to my
regulator (no hole) it was like I had a freeking subwoofer in the room!!!!

Big difference - I'd say port hole vs. no port hole makes a bigger difference than 1ply vs 2 ply when it comed to low end.

On the other hand....I like the better definition/attack of the ported head if I am going to mic the kick....
 
I want a sound thats going to kick you in chest.I would still like to port the front the head for when I do miced gigs. I like bottom end with good attack.
 
The SKI is punchier and more to the point.
The SKII is a bit warmer.
I like both heads and I use both.
 
I want a sound thats going to kick you in chest.I would still like to port the front the head for when I do miced gigs. I like bottom end with good attack.

Spectron is correct. Unfortunately it turns out that you can't really use the same bass drum head/tuning/muffling setup for both miked and unmiked gigs with loud music. A bass drum set up properly for miking simply won't be heard in the unmiked situation.

Go for the SKI. The SKII is a heavily muffled, low-volume head more suited to miking.

I recommend having two resos available, one with a port and one without. As Spectron said, for unmiked you really need the added sustain the unported reso gives you. Tune for boom and sustain. This is usually a smidge higher than JAW, where many drummers tune their miked bass drums. What I do is tune the reso a bit above JAW, up to where it begins to have some bottom-end and sustain. Then I tune the batter a bit higher than that. Experiement. Don't worry about the sustain--you'll hear it at the kit but the audience won't, they'll just hear a louder bass drum.

When you're miked, use the ported head and muffle to taste. Tune lower if you like. Much of your sound will be EQ anyway.

Sorry there's no one-size-fits-all solution. I rarely play miked much anymore, but my kid plays in loud rock bands, 95% of the time unmiked. For that 5% that are miked we do the above. When we can't find out if we're going to be miked or not beforehand, we bring both resos and some muffling to the gig.
 
Go the SK1 and tighten the from head up slightly for a little added boom.
Make sure everything else is out of your kickdrum.
 
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