Got my EHX Wiggler in yesterday, figured I'd post a little bit of a review. Clips will come in a few days, just haven't really had a chance to get any lately.
First off, anyone who owns any of the tube-based EHX pedals knows... these things are HUGE and built like tanks. And upon plugging in the unique power supply, the two 12AX7s immediately begin to warm up and the rate light begins to flash. Pretty useful so you always know what Vibe/Trem rate you're at, regardless if the effect is engaged or not (Has a separate LED to let you know when it's engaged).
I have had some experience with this pedal in the past, through a guitarist in an old band. But that was a few years ago and I had kind of forgotten how it sounded on bass. I was mainly interested in this pedal for it's "Hamm" setting; the hammond/leslie-like vibrato. So that's the first place I went.
Right off the bat, this thing was LOUD! I found unity at about 9 o'clock on the Volume knob. After that was tamed, I set the Rate and Intensity to my liking and genuinely got the feeling of playing through a rotating speaker. I was able to adjust the rate knob somewhat with my foot while playing, giving the sound a wonderful dynamic of slowing down and speeding up with my playing. I hope to maximize that effect by having it modded for expression input in the very near future.
The other settings sounded quite good as well, hard to describe but I'll see if I can put them into words. The first Vibe setting, "Looz," sounded ok, but is definitely hard to describe... Maybe a bit of a phasey sound to it? I dunno, I have no real use for the sound, but it definitely didn't sound bad. Already mentioned the Hamm setting, so I'll go right to the "Acey" which is supposed to emulate the Vox vibrato. Also sounds great, but is much more dramatic or "choppy" compared to the rest. Definitely the setting to choose if you really want people to notice the vibe. Contrasting that, the "Wurl" (emulating the wurlitzer piano) is the most subtle and warmest of the 4. Had to turn up the intensity and rate a bit more to even notice it.
I then tried the Tremolo, which I really can't see any use for with bass. But that just might be my taste. It didn't sound bad at all, but I don't ever plan on using the trem setting.
Now for the (somewhat) bad news. Apart from the pedal being huge (if that's even a problem for you) and having a very unique/proprietary power supply, I did notice a TAD bit of low-end loss with the pedal. But seeing as how vibrato is actually altering the pitch, that might just be the nature of the beast. And honestly, I'm not sure if it was a loss in the low end or just an increase in the highs, as the pedal sounded a little bright to me when engaged.
I do not think that loss will really affect me in any way, but I've got a show next week where I'm going to try it in a live setting and see what happens. The way I see it though, for my purposes, this pedal isn't meant to be engaged when holding down the low-end groove. It's going to be engaged during more jazz-oriented, soloing type songs that involve a lot more space and some chording. So I'd say unless you're looking to do some Charlie Hunter type of jazz or very open fusionish type of stuff, you may not have a use for this pedal. But definitely worth trying.
Overall I'm very happy with it and give it a 7.5 to 8 out of 10
And as I said, clips coming in the next few days hopefully.
First off, anyone who owns any of the tube-based EHX pedals knows... these things are HUGE and built like tanks. And upon plugging in the unique power supply, the two 12AX7s immediately begin to warm up and the rate light begins to flash. Pretty useful so you always know what Vibe/Trem rate you're at, regardless if the effect is engaged or not (Has a separate LED to let you know when it's engaged).
I have had some experience with this pedal in the past, through a guitarist in an old band. But that was a few years ago and I had kind of forgotten how it sounded on bass. I was mainly interested in this pedal for it's "Hamm" setting; the hammond/leslie-like vibrato. So that's the first place I went.
Right off the bat, this thing was LOUD! I found unity at about 9 o'clock on the Volume knob. After that was tamed, I set the Rate and Intensity to my liking and genuinely got the feeling of playing through a rotating speaker. I was able to adjust the rate knob somewhat with my foot while playing, giving the sound a wonderful dynamic of slowing down and speeding up with my playing. I hope to maximize that effect by having it modded for expression input in the very near future.
The other settings sounded quite good as well, hard to describe but I'll see if I can put them into words. The first Vibe setting, "Looz," sounded ok, but is definitely hard to describe... Maybe a bit of a phasey sound to it? I dunno, I have no real use for the sound, but it definitely didn't sound bad. Already mentioned the Hamm setting, so I'll go right to the "Acey" which is supposed to emulate the Vox vibrato. Also sounds great, but is much more dramatic or "choppy" compared to the rest. Definitely the setting to choose if you really want people to notice the vibe. Contrasting that, the "Wurl" (emulating the wurlitzer piano) is the most subtle and warmest of the 4. Had to turn up the intensity and rate a bit more to even notice it.
I then tried the Tremolo, which I really can't see any use for with bass. But that just might be my taste. It didn't sound bad at all, but I don't ever plan on using the trem setting.
Now for the (somewhat) bad news. Apart from the pedal being huge (if that's even a problem for you) and having a very unique/proprietary power supply, I did notice a TAD bit of low-end loss with the pedal. But seeing as how vibrato is actually altering the pitch, that might just be the nature of the beast. And honestly, I'm not sure if it was a loss in the low end or just an increase in the highs, as the pedal sounded a little bright to me when engaged.
I do not think that loss will really affect me in any way, but I've got a show next week where I'm going to try it in a live setting and see what happens. The way I see it though, for my purposes, this pedal isn't meant to be engaged when holding down the low-end groove. It's going to be engaged during more jazz-oriented, soloing type songs that involve a lot more space and some chording. So I'd say unless you're looking to do some Charlie Hunter type of jazz or very open fusionish type of stuff, you may not have a use for this pedal. But definitely worth trying.
Overall I'm very happy with it and give it a 7.5 to 8 out of 10
And as I said, clips coming in the next few days hopefully.
