[Harp-L] Yet another "gear" question

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Folks,

I feel bad about asking another gear question since it seems everybody's
gone off on a gear jag lately and forgotten about the harp it's self - but
here I go.

I play through a reverbless amp. and so I use a Digitech digital delay to
add a touch of reverb so it doesn't sound so dry. I don't use much - just a
touch- but it's enough to wet the tone a little and allow for a smoother
sound.  Well, I've noticed on the couple of occasions when I've been playing
and the 9v. battery started to die, something interesting happens.  As the
battery is petering out, which takes about five minutes, the tone of my harp
(through the amp of course) gets this REALLY warm,  crunchy tone.  It's not
a tone I would always want to play with but it does sound cool as hell.  The
individual notes get a sort of blurriness to them like I'm playing through a
fuzz box. I'm wondering what's happening to produce this; I'd like to get it
deliberately.  I've tried overdrive pedals for this before - lots of
feed-back.  Maybe somebody on the list knows what causes this?

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh