kick skin selection 26" Slingerland

[FirstLoveStudio]

I need to skin the kick on my 26" '70's Slingerland kick drum. Its my studio kit - I'm not a drummer myself so whilst I've got some experience tuning, I've not really experimented with buying different skins.
The drum has a naturally hard attack - incredibly loud and present. This is great but I want skins that can offer a modern bottom end thud - where the player can really feel the bass as they play. I'd like the sound to be as versatile as possible for alternative rock - folk. Kick sounds I love are big open Calexico/Jim White type things but I also love much harder Sebadoh stuff. I also want to be able to record real warm dry 70's kicks like Harvest or Transformer

I really like the sound of kicks with front skin intact - i.e. no hole, but I also like the sound of mics inside the drum so I'm thinking of suspending a D112 through the tom mount hole. Anyone ever tried this? - i.e. micing inside the kick with front skin.

Any thoughts welcome

[Jax]

You might have trouble finding 26" heads at all, let alone any variety. I would call Remo. They can custom make 26" (or any size) heads in any of their different series. They are also very adept at helping you pick the right head for what you're after.

[TheArchitect]

Ludwig is making 26" kicks. They are available just not stocked by many stores. I would try massmusic.net