The magnetic core would saturate and probably result in a *less* effective far field effect. Ideally you would need to radially compress the work coil virtually instantly at the moment of peak current . . . I am sure that Gunner could come up with something suitable and some way of setting it off. If you took a road trip to Gunnerland, you could both have some fun.
As to test objects, Personal stereos (of the dirt cheap FM radio variety) and old mobiles would be worthy targets and cheaper than car stereos and computers.
If you want to video this, I suggest you put in a bid for a sheet of the Mumetal currently on RCM and make a box with a fine mesh copper screen over the lens and copper braid gaskets at all joints or maybe use an old hand cranked movie camera. I'm sure the video would be popular . . .
N.B I understand that *any* high energy discharge that does not disrupt the work coil is very hard on the capacitor bank owing to the rapid resonant current reversal. You might want to bear this in mind and make sure that the coil is always the sacrificial element if you are operating anywhere near full power.