Personally I’d revel in the distinctive tone that a resonator banjo offers rather than seeking to make it sound like every other clawhammer banjo.
Instead of set-up suggestions I’d recommend grabbing a beer and listening to Wade Ward. Let your right hand shape the sound you've got. 

If you're determined to stick with your resonator while still moving the sound towards warmer/less bright, I really would consider swapping heads. I bought an old Ome resonator off someone localish to me last year and it had a Balch skin head on it; after I swapped to a frosted, the clarity of the tone _significantly_ improved. And yes, loosening the head tension will also change the sound, though too loose and it'll just sound dull.

quote:

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Originally posted by xnos2xnos2

Hey All,

I’ve got a resonator banjo that was originally set up more for bluegrass, but I mostly play clawhammer. 
I like the projection and volume of the resonator, but   I’m after a more mellow, plunky tone.

I’ve already swapped to (not light) phosphor bronze strings and adjusted the tailpiece angle. They helped a bit, but I’m still chasing a warmer, less bright sound.

Other things I’ve heard are:
-Replacing the bridge  with medium-er (not too heavy), and compensated is a little sweeter
-Loosening the head tension  meh, usually a poor trade for less clarity
-Swapping to a renaissance head with thicker like a Remo suede
-Stuffing the pot  if necessary...

Do any more experienced players know which of these is the most impactful, especially in terms of effort vs. results?

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Errrr.. what is the tone ring type and it's composition is on your "resonator banjo"?

A wound third string will change the character, 17w works fine or 16w if you can source them.  Good luck with this, it works well, but, it's a bit obscure and getting it matched to your use case may take some time and fussing.

Ren / Frosted / Suede / Fiberskin
Bright / Quick / Plunky / Muted
0.008" / 0.009" / 0.010" / 0.014"

https://www.smakulafrettedinstruments.com/store/c4/banjo-heads

You obviously have researched all the ways, like you posted, to make a banjo sound like not-a-banjo. No prob, some folks, for whatever reason, like the sound/tone of a neutered banjo. Like I said, no prob.

Before you inflict any kind of surgery on your banjo first listen to famous clawhammer hero players of the days of yor: Wade Ward, Ralph Stanley > resoed banjos, There were many, many more CH players who played "real" banjos. To many, that bright sparky banjo sound is what real clawhammer is supposed to sound like.

If you don't care for the way the guys I mentioned sound, no prob. Maybe your ear cannot handle bright sounds and then the steps you mentioned do make sense.

The changes you proposed all are un-doable so do go for it but do realize, that the neutered sounds/tomes do not at all make your playing any more "authentic."

Banjos are all about having fun, go have some already 

If you're using a resonator banjo with a heavy metal tone ring then everything you try doing to it will be counter-intuitive to the way the banjo was designed to sound. You can do all those setup tweaks, but it probably won't be as drastic a change as you'd like. I'd personally just get a second banjo with no tone ring, perhaps a 12" pot and enjoy your resonator banjo for its strengths.
They can sound really great for clawhammer/OT as is though. My resonator banjo is set up for bluegrass, and I never really played much clawhammer or two finger on it because the string tension and action felt too low. It also sounded tubby so I had to throw a towel in the pot to get a halfway decent sound. Then one day I tuned the banjo up a half step to G# and the string tension felt perfect, and the note clarity was so much improved that I never put a towel inside again. I find myself picking it up for all styles of banjo music lately, and my open back gets considerably less play time.

If money is an issue over having an extra banjo set up to be darker sounding, those new gold tone plastic rim banjos sound really good for the bucks! I guess my ear can’t appreciate ren heads. I order raw skins and do my own, and I tend to prefer goatskin where others prefer calf. On some setups I use metal but greatly prefer nylgut.
I prefer friction ungeared tuners for nylguts, but I do have nylguts on my DEering Americana, which has geared style side tuners, and they work fine. Nylguts can be aggravating with all the stretching but they sure sound good. They never seem to quit stretching though.
If you’re really handy either working on banjos, buy you an old Buckbee or copy off eBay for $200 and set it up how you want. There’s a million old dowel stick banjos on eBay waiting to be rescued for pennies on the dollar.

I have heard some resonator banjos, that sounded good with clawhammer, and I think it is a leagal project to see if one can make the actual banjo work for this. If not changing head, I think some stuffing at the the neck end is absolutely neccessary. The bridge should not be too light. Try many different, because another bridge can change the sound of a whole banjo. One of my friends made himself a bridge standing on a piece og hard leather. It took away some overtones without dampimg the fundamentals, but Arrh. The most important is that you find a tone, that is pleasant and likeable for the ear without being muted.
Am I the only one that find that Wade Wards banjo sounds terrible? Sorry if I offended somebody :) Steen

I think this resonator banjo sounds good for clawhammer. I don't think, it's stuffed. Normal Remo top-frosted head. It's a Masterone-type flathead banjo by Iida. Maybe important to know/notice that it's a tube-and-plate banjo.

youtu.be/N49k4KkshAs?is=iWEI7CKngdIuEnrd

I’m a huge Willie Watson fan and he plays old folk songs clawhammer on a resonator banjo.

The IMMEDIATE thing to try, at no cost, is stuffing the resonator/pot with a rolled up towel. I once bought a nice bluegrass banjo and when it arrived and I unpacked it, the resonator was padded with a perfectly cut circle of yellow "foam rubber" furniture padding, about 1 inch thick. Also you can easily "un-do" it if you don't like it.

In another thread, I recently talked about replacing the frosted head on my Deering Sierra, with a Suede head. To directly answer your question, the head change matters more than all the other stuff combined. As I mentioned in the other thread, the frosted head sounds like a sparkling knife cutting through the mix, and the suede head sounds like punching through the mix with boxing gloves. I’ve also tried a ren head and a fiberskin on this banjo, and those were thrown in the closet within a few weeks. Ren was too thin and wussy, and the fiberskin was like trying to play a Tupperware bowl. The Suede is a keeper, and will stay on the banjo indefinitely.

As Ken said we need to know what this resonator banjo is. Cheap no tone ring, basic with rolled brass tone ring or full fat bluegrass with flathead tone ring. For the latter a fiberskin head helps tame the brashness a bit.

When it comes to setup, the one thing that makes the greatest impact on your tone is how you adjust the big nut that sits behind the banjo.

Suede sounds cool or just loosen the head you have