I haven't noticed that much difference whether reso or batter is tuned the higher. The reason I cranked up the batter is 1) because somewhere I read "Tune the batter for feel, the reso for tone," and 2) because that is the head that gets tuned up when playing live and I was happy enough with the result, 3) I like the batter on the 12 to be tight rather than loose, and 4) back when I played Signatures, I always tuned all batters a fourth above their respective resos, and thought it might work on this 12. (My Signature tuning is another story and rather eccentric, I think: three toms, 14/16/18, all tuned a fourth apart, reso’s of the smaller drum tuned to the same pitch as the batter of the next larger.)
I'll be interested to hear your response to the inverted tuning. You mention tuning lower; I think it is very easy, in the search for low, to find a tuning that would work with close miking but not acoustically, because while it sounds a note, the note does not project.
As to the tunesafes on Designers: Is tuning stability a reasonable tradeoff for ease of tuning? I don't like chasing tuning around an expanded kit, so my answer to that question is ‘yes.’ But if the answer were ‘no’, one can just pop the tunesafes and be old-school again.
In my experience, the tunesafes always move with the rods to some degree, and require a reverse tweak of the key to seat. I just give the key that much more and then a reverse when fine tuning. Yes, it's a nuisance but it has become enough a habit that I don't notice all that much.
Changing heads is no problem at all, once you have a proper fitting for the slotted heads that will fit in a drill. Have something like that?
I love slotted rods! They do require a bit more awareness than square heads, because fitment of the key is half as frequent as it is on a square headed rod. In addition, I suspect that there is a fair amount of built in slop, so that the arc of the square key begins insertion long before the optimal position is reached. Slotted rods, by contrast, are made in that German fashion to be precise, and like most other precise German mechanisms I'm familiar with, they require that your head be screwed on your shoulders before using.
It is not my purpose to be the defender of something gone that will never come back, but I had Sonor square headed rods on my Classix and the key to rod fitment was the sloppiest of any kit I have ever owned. Even when I was being extra careful, the key would slip mid tuning. Drum keys are sort of notorious for falling but the Sonor square headed key has a junkie's attachment to the floor. A less important issue perhaps, but there is no way to leave a square Sonor key sitting on the drum while playing. If it doesn't fall it rattles. By contrast, the Link era key and rod arrangement almost never slips and almost never falls while tuning, and generally does not rattle. True, the human eye has to be engaged; orientation of the wings of the key are identical to the orientation of the slot, and once that is recognized and coordinated with the orientation of the slot of the screw, placement of the key is almost automatic
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