When an XO version of this pedal came out, with an expression jack out, I was like, “YEAH!” And then I got it, and it was as good as I expected, but it different ways.

The modes:

Vibrato: This is what I mainly wanted the pedal for. The vibrato is Peter Stroud’s demo sounded fantastic, and really kind of spooky in a way that I love. I can very, very easily get that same sound. I love it. Really warm and obviously analog, but not very noisy at all.

Tremolo: I’ve already got a Stereo Pulsar, so I wasn’t super-stoked about the tremolo feature. Actually, it’s not very deep, and has a bit of a vibrato to it. It sounds like a slightly different and, IMO, less-pleasant sounding version of the vibrato. You can certainly use it, but it’s not the reason you you’d want to get this pedal. it’s also a bit noisy.

In neither the tremolo nor the vibrato modes does the manual/expression side of the switch do anything impressive

Phase Shifter: I had a Nano Small Stone, but sold it because I didn’t use it very much. This sounds pretty close to a Small Stone with the color off. I kind of wish it would go slower, because I like that super-slow waves-crashing phase shifting sound, but you can always plug in an expression pedal (I use a Photo Eye Expression Pedal) to make it go really slowly yourself. Also, if you turn it on manual and set the range to about 1:00 or 2:00, and put a distortion behind it, you get this really ballsy lower-midrange crunch. I absolutely love it.

Auto-Wah: I didn’t really expect to love this mode as much as I do. You can set it to the rhythm of what you’re playing and get a really cool, bouncy percussive element to your music. And it works pretty darn well as a regular wah when you use an expression pedal.

As a side note, when you have an expression pedal plugged in, when it’s rolled all the way back, you have your dry signal, unaffected, so you can just leave The Worm on during a set and start messing with your expression pedal when you need it. Very convenient.

Overall, I’d give this pedal a nine. It’s really useful to spice up a hook (no pun intended) or rhythm line, or just to add something unique to a song.