We'll admit it! We are complete suckers for any product with tubes in it. So when Electro-Harmonix announced their new, all-tube Vibrato and Tremolo "Wiggler" pedal we were anxious to get our hands on it. In keeping with the EH tradition, the Wiggler came to us packed in the handsome and aromatic pine box. We slid the wooden cover off and immediately unwrapped it. The exterior certainly takes the award for the most handsome EH pedal to date with its stout brushed aluminum chassis and sensible layout. For those of us who can recall the company's days of sheet metal clad pedals, this marks a new milestone in solid and stable stomping surfaces. Dimension-wise, the Wiggler's narrow width and top side mounted jacks allows for perfect placement on smaller pedalboards. Five well-placed mini-knobs provide access to volume, intensity, rate, vibrato/tremolo selections and a four-click mode switch for choosing various vibrato flavors. All the knobs are well-placed to allow plenty of visibility for the cool rate LED while the unit's two half-exposed vacuum tubes are protected by an elevated, and ventilated, black tube. Add to all this an easily tapped stomp switch and that pretty much sums up the mechanical features of the Wiggler.

We tackled the tremolo first and immediately took notice of the tubes working their magic on our signal. There has never been anything subtle about most Electro-Harmonix pedals, and that "over the top" mindset is a welcome presence in the Wiggler. The all tube circuitry really pays off big in terms of slathering the vibrato and tremolo in an all-encompassing warmth and thickness. The lively pulse of the tremolo has a very convincing depth of character that holds its own against most dedicated amplifier versions. The wide range of the Wiggler is impressive and the ability to dial up anything from delicate to destructive is only a knob turn away. Same applies for the generous rate knob! We went from snail's paced swells to supersonic ring-mod spasms and everything in between. Extreme settings, whether dialed in by knobs or picking pressure, seemed as though they pushed the tubes into giving up a more dynamic, if not slightly overdriven, sound. This type of customized behavior in a pedal should spark the interest of anyone tired of their predictable transistorized or digitized tremolo pedals.

As cool as the tremolo section may be, the excitement really lies within the Wiggler's very versatile vibrato section. Imagine all the function extremes of the tremolo multiplied by four! With four clickable modes at your fingertips you literally have a full tacklebox of vibrato tones that attempt to mimic old Leslie speakers (LOOZ), a Hammond organ vibe (HAMM), the wobbly Wurlitzer piano vibratos (WURL), and the choppy chatter of a Vox amplifier (ACEY). How much these actually sound like their counterparts is a not really worth debating since we viewed them as more cool tones to twiddle with. Maybe we've all absorbed way too much AM radio soft rock as children in the 70s, but we were immediately drawn to the WURL and HAMM settings. Both have a deep ultra-mellow woofiness that literally forced our fingers to play nothing but smooth and luscious 7th chords. The Looz mode seems to be the most standard sounding of all the vibratos and quickly disappeared into the mix until we added a bit of treble to our guitar's tone knob or reached for the Wiggler's handy overall volume knob. The ACEY setting sound great with or without overdrive and always managed to poke through the mix with its upper-mid choppiness. It has a little more bite than the other three with its pronounced peaks and very rock n' roll vibe.

The only real gripe we seemed to be able muster up was that we would have preferred the placement of the rate knob in the upper right hand area of the box for quick onstage adjustment via a shoe edge. It is also worth noting that you'll need to use the enclosed Electro-Harmonix AC adapter to juice this fellow up. This may stir up a few gripes for those of you who use a single box to provide power to all your pedals, but its the price you'll have to pay for that high-voltage valvey sound. That said, there aren't many vibrato/tremolo choices in this price range that can deliver the kind of goods the Wiggler can. Best of all, the tube design isn't just a clever marketing ploy but actually adds a wonderful depth and airy thickness to any signal passing through it. We always missed the added body when the effect was deactivated and wound up wishing there was a way to allow the signal to wind its way through the tubes independent of the effects. Both the tremolo and vibrato have their own unique voices that stand up admirably to many of their onboard amp counterparts. With all sonic variations available, we'd actually prefer the Wiggler over most onboard amplifier effects for its sheer versatility. That's saying a lot considering we had the Wiggler plugged into an old Fender Princeton with tremolo and an old Magnatone with vibrato for a/b'ing during various stages of testing. Being able to stand up to these classics is a true test of sonic might and the Wiggler does it well.