Just can't tune my snare

I have literally been sitting here trying to tune my snare for 2 hours and I just cant do it. It was super bright and I brought it to my teacher yesterday. He said it was tuned about as high as it would go; he tuned up the reso and he tuned the batter quite a bit lower than it was, and it sounded better, but still not where I wanted. He suggested I get a thicker/darker head to get it down a bit further.

I picked up a new head, and I can't get it to sound good unless I tune it high. There is just way too much resonance and it sounds terrible. Now I can't even get my old head back to where he had it and I'm just getting frustrated. What gives? Doesn't seem to matter how high or low I tune the reso, the batter always has to be high to get rid of the excessive resonance/overtones/ringing. Thing is I want it darker, so that doesn't work for me.

For reference, it's a Mapex Meridian Maple 14x5.5 snare, stock head is a Remo UT ambassador, and the new head is a Remo Powerstroke 3.

It's really hard to diagnose without hearing it. That's why Steve gave us smartphones. Upload a quick clip to youtube/vimeo and link it here, and I'm sure someone will chime in.

It figures that right after I wrote this I found a happy spot for the powerstroke. I just took everything off and started from scratch. It seems to like the reso a bit lower and it just won't go to a low tuning. I presume every drum and every head will react differently?

I guess like everything else it's a learning process. I think if it took this long to learn to tune a guitar I may have quit on day one. LOL

I need to accept that this is a pretty bright snare. Whenever I hear a snare I really like it's always a deep one. Too early to start dropping Christmas hints?

Look into the Big Fat Snare Drum if you want a Big Fat Snare Drum sound I've got Steve's Donut a few weeks ago and so far I really like it, I'm going to be using it on a recording session sometime within the next month and can't wait to hear how it sounds.

Look up drum tuning videos on YouTube and once you've got a better understanding of how it works, make the necessary adjustments to get the drums sounding how you want them to sound.

Good Luck!

Everyone has their own preferences. That being said, the engineers who made your drum intended for you to tune it in a very specific way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxm3QunDjUs&list=PL873FEB0D778A4283&feature=share&index=2

I have this same snare. It has a lot of ring to it (it IS a Maple snare) that can be controlled without choking the drum. I tried several head combos and here's what I came up with:
Remo coated controlled sound reverse dot batter
Aquarian Classic Clear reso
Crank the reso Crank the reso oh yeah....crank the reso
I use two strips of gaffer's tape 2" x 4" on opposite corners of the snare. You can actually play on these strips for quieter accents if you want.
I started to put this snare in the closet but after trying this combination I've been playing it for months....sounds great!

I hear ya..had the same problem with my pork pie little squealer for a while. You just gotta toy with it for a little bit and eventually you find that sweet spot

One way to make it darker is to put an Ebony head on it.

Actually, you should try an Evans head maybe? Hate to say it, but they tune up easier.