A harp run through a distortion pedal might sound heavier than your electric guitar

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Here’s what happened when Emily Hopkins designed to mess with its heavenly sound

The sound of the harp is one of the most heavenly in music - it’s an instrument that’s literally played by angels - but what if you were to run one through the heaviest distortion pedal you could find?

That was the question posed by Emily Hopkins, who decided to answer it by playing not one but two of her harps through Electrofoods’ Nepenthes pedal.

Said to provide “rodent-devouring discrete opamp distortion,” this is the kind of effect that’s unlikely to find its way through the pearly gates.

You can check out the results in the video above. To provide extra sweetness, the Walrus Audio Fathom reverb pedal is also featured, as is the Flower Pedals Dandelion Tremolo.

In fact, it turns out that Hopkins is quite the experimenter when it comes to her harp - check out her YouTube channel for more.

Ben Rogerson
Ben Rogerson
Deputy Editor

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.