My Sonors, which is tuned and geared (harhar) for a rock sound, has a ported front head, but my old Pearls is tuned and geared for a jazz sound, so that has a virgin front head.

A nice wide open bass with coated heads on it sounds great, especially with a soft felt beater. Being able to feather and play with a lot of dynamics makes the bass drum more of an instrument rather than a thud effect.

Absolutely, that 18" kick I have is fun as hell tuned way up.

I like to get a small one like that