There's no question that Peavey's Wiggy is a unique, eye-catching hunk of amp. Based on Dweezil Zappa's silver and blue Aston Martin, the sports car-themed Wiggy kicked up enough of a buzz at Winter NAMM to become one of the cover models for GP's May 2001 New Gear Issue.

"The look was almost as important as the sound," explains Zappa, who conceptualized and co-designed the amp with Peavey's engineering staff. "I wanted something that would be inviting--something that would entice guitarists to come on over and play it. And I wanted tree thematic coherence. The amp's slightly backlit gauges echo those on classic British roadsters."

But although looks were a primary concern, the Wiggy's stylishly rod-o-rific visage is matched by its tonal versatility. And the timbral side of the amp's design was also inspired by a less-than-conventional model. "I wanted the amp to sound like this unknown, '70s-era kind of' bass preamp I found in a dark corner of my dad's studio," says Zappa. "We were cleaning some stuff out, and there it was. I've never seen anything like it anywhere. I plugged a guitar into it, and it sounded pretty cool. It had an interesting distortion sound, and even at its most distorted, when you backed off your guitar volume, the tone got clean without getting thin. The concept was so clear that the Wiggy was basically complete on the first pass. It did everything I wanted it to do, and it looked right. Peavey's engineers were skeptical--they said,We usually have to run through the design process four or five times.' I said, `Nope. It's done!'"

The production model of the Wiggy couples a modified 100-watt Transtube head with a 2x12 closed-back cabinet loaded with Sheffield 1230 speakers. Features include a footswitchable gain boost, an effects loop (with a level switch), a resonance control for tuning the cabinet's low-end response (loose to tight), 5-band and 3-band EQ, and selectable impedance (4[Omega], 8[Omega], or 16[Omega]).

"The Wiggy is designed to be extremely responsive to performance dynamics and input levels," says Zappa. "Using your guitar's volume knob, you can get several different tones without touching the amp controls. The changes are mostly textural. A built-in compressor keeps the output levels relatively consistent--even when you bring down the guitar volume, from full distortion at 10 to a clean sound at 2

PUBLICATION: Guitar Player

VOLUME/ISSUE: Vol. 35, No. 11

PUBLICATION DATE: November 2001

CONTRIBUTORS: Molenda, Michael