Hi bmeat
There's also the option of using a different muffling device, I use a very small bath towel rolled in a croissant shape resting at the bottom of the batter head inside the drum, secured with 3 little piece of tape, it's just fine for removing the unwanted overtones, It doesn't affect the feel of the pedal/rebound for me. I use a Legacy Empereor on the batter side and an Aquarian Regulator on the reso side.
Alternatively, you can choose a batter/reso head combo that has a build in dampening devices, such as Evans Emad, Aquarian Superkick 2 or Remo PS3.
...thats how i have it now, against the resonate head, it feels a little bit better.
There's a risk that the BD will sound pretty dead a few feet away from the drums, it's how it sound from the front that's important, not so much from the drummer's seating point, I have no damping on the reso head.
i have my peadals on the middle setting for how flat/vertical the actually pedal is from the ground.
the beaters are about 1 inch above center, felt side (it feels nicer)
the spring are looseish, i like them just about when theyre starting to get tension (again they are pearl powershifters, and theyve got some weight behind them. im pretty sure they are the Pearl P122TW Double Pedal) and i like the beaters striking distance a little closer than 45 degrees away from head, i guess about 30 or 35 degrees.
The seating position, how far or near the pedal you are, the height you're seating, the footbaord angle, the beater angle and height and the spring tension are all part of the 'setting" to be able to play your pedal comfortably in a controlled and accurate manner. the tuning of both heads also is an important factor, I tune my batter head a little bit tighter than most other drummers kits I have played, with the reso even slightly tighter than the batter head.
...would putting the pillow touching the resonate head vs having the pillow in the center, touching neither head change feel at all, or no, it only effects the sound?
Pillow against the batter head = no or less head vibration, therefore less rebound and a dry flat sounding thud. Pillow in the centre of the drum not touching either heads = cutting overtones, gives an emphasis on the low end pitch of the drums and does not affect the rebound (you get full rebound), it also provides a fuller bass drum sound.
...and does the angle between the beater and the head really change feel much at all? id imagine they would stop where you foot stops no matter how big of an angle you make, right? or wrong?
IMO, wrong. It's the same approach as playing with your hands, exept that you're limited to the course of the beater, when you lift your foot on the footboard (still keeping contact with the footboard at all times, like holding you sticks) the beater will move towards you, thus increasing the distance of the beater to travel for a given stroke, it is indeed an imporatnt part of stetting the beater angle, to be able to have plenty a choice of dynamics, exactly like you do with your hands, the more the distance from the head the more the power and vice versa.
Hope this helps.