Hey Mike, thanks for posting this...its funny how a happy accident can take us along to these discoveries.
I was delighted to hear about this, because even though all these options for harmonica playing are available(overbends, valves, alternate tuning, additional reeds, etc)and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages, and its own sound, they all take work to be able to play well.
The prospect of spending a fair bit of time and money to acquire these options began to look a little daunting, even though the experimentation is fun and enlightening.
I'm somehow relieved to find that a lot of options are still accessible through a good ole' Richter tuned regular harp, if its set up well.
There is a give and take with ANY type of bend on harmonica whether it be draw bends, blow bends, single reed bends, valved bends, sympatheric bends, or overbends. EVERY one of these changes the timbre of the instrument compared to a draw or blow note (which also have different timbres).
I got to work early today and did a review of the SUB30 and will upload it later. The "new" bends on the SUB30 are unbelievable, but just like everything else, you have to learn to do them. They are very stable and fat - which I would argue is the case with a good overbend harp. THe advantage with those bends is the note layout, IMO. I am hooked!
If you listen carefully to the vid above, you can hear that getting overbends on a pretty much stock harp isn't that hard. It isn't difficult to get the reeds to slam and the notes to sound. However, you can hear a difference in the quality of the overbend on the A vs the C, which is a much better setup. Also, on a custom harp, that A wouldn't choke out.
