combined with a Rate
setting of Attack produced a
tremolo whose speed varied
directly with the strength
of the input signal. A quick
flip of the Frequency toggle
to the LFO setting added a
long, phasing sweep to the
mix. The layering sounded
a little like a tremolo that
was also backed up with
a phaser. The separation
between the two effects
gave the impression that
not one, but two pedals
were in play.
The most dramatic of the
pedal’s sounds were found
when its two toggles were
both set to Attack mode.
The sound was layered
so that if a chord were
struck, the pedal’s tremolo
increased in speed, then
decreased as the input level
faded. Simultaneously, the
pedal opened, and slowly
closed a filter that sounded
like a wah pedal. At high
input volumes, the filter was
“open,” as a wah might, but
the Night Wire’s filtering
was a bit more subtle and
less shrill than many wah
pedals tend to be. Even
the most dramatic settings
weren’t so over-the-top that
the pedal felt useless—
far from it.
The Night Wire was also
able to layer a broad,
gradually sweeping sound
with an input-dependent
tremolo up front. So, the
pedal seemed to slowly
phase in the background
while the tremolo
responded to playing
dynamics. The sound
makes sense when the
settings are considered:
the tremolo, in the Attack
setting, responded to the
input volume, while the
Frequency, in the LFO
setting, slowly swept the
filters’ center points back
and forth.
WHAT WE LIKE
A cool integration of three
typically distinct effects