I would generally recommend a single ply clear head on the bottom of the toms. Not really anything else, although there are drummers (Carter Beauford comes to mind) who do use others.
As for clear/coated evans/remo for the batter side, it really depends on the sound you are after. The coat between evans and remo is drastically different and do sound slightly different. Of course clear and coated are distinct as well (much more than the difference in brand). I personally think that you are on the right track with going single ply for a birch kit. The question then becomes, clear or coated...? Just consider it in the context of the style of music being played. Again, as for the resonant heads, I would rarely consider using anything other than single ply clear on the bottom, no matter what style.

It seems to me that there would be no phase cancellation and less ring in this scenerio

I believe this is best accomplished by tuning the resonant head relative to the batter head. for example, I tune my resonant heads a fourth higher than the batter heads on my toms to achieve that pitch change "be-ow" sound. using clear 2ply batter heads with rings and moongel helps keep the unwanted overtones down.

If you're not already accomplished at drum tuning, do a web search for tuning info. Lots of different sounds can be accomplished thru proper tuning.

Hope this is helpful.

Beautiful. Thanks guys! :) I'm using Pinstripes now and they are great, but I've been using them for 20 years and I'm in the mood to check out some other options for my toms.

Anyone have any experience with using the same heads on the top and bottom? I think my drums sound fantastic, but I'm really wondering why I have not heard of anyone using this setup... strange.

So being experienced with the pinstripes, what could I expect from a coated Evans?

BrianaW wrote: ...I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with using the exact same heads for the batter and resonant on the toms. It seems to me that there would be no phase cancellation and less ring in this scenerio and I'm wondering why I have not heard of anyone doing this before. ...

It is actually quite common for toms to have the same batter and resonant heads, most commonly clear medium weight single ply heads such as Remo Ambassadors. Coated batter heads are very common for "studio" sounds, and differ from their clear versions only with the added coating.

Coated Ambassador batters, with clear Ambassador resonant heads are one of the most common recording setups for toms. Of course Evans, Aquarian, and other manufacturers have their version of the same things.

Thanks everyone!

I've ended up with coated Emperor's on the tops, and coated Ambassadors on the bottoms. I must say, I'm quite impressed. It's definitely a more vintage sound, but very easy to tune and this combo is also able to go much higher than I expected. The kick sounds especially nice to me. It's got way more punch than a Pinstripe and less of a low wet slap... more of a polite creamy tick (which I really like and should work nicely with the D6). I bought an impact patch just in case but I don't think I'm going to use it. :)

I also picked up a set of the Steve Gadd signature sticks w/ nylon barrel tips... AMAZING! Anyone tried these? They are way fast and bounce like crazy!

K, thanks again everyone for your input... it definitely helped a lot. :)

If you're talking about using two edge controlled heads (pinstripes, ec2, genera dry) on top and bottom heads this may be good if you're going for a very dead sound. For a change of pace from the pinstripes try Evan's Hydraulics for a deader sound or their EC2 for one that's a little more open. I love using Remo coated Ambassador on the resonant side of my toms w/ hydraulics on top. It's a really warm tone without excessive ringing.

Before going to this I experimented with coated emperors on top and loved that sound too, but it just wasn't working for the sound my band needs.