Z-Vex: Seek Wah effect pedal

All right, this thing is really cool. Sadly, it's also very expensive and is an extreme example of a "one trick pony." But what a trick, man! The Seek Wah sends your signal through a series of envelope filters. There are eight tiny pots so you can control the sensitivity of each filter. There's a pot that controls the speed through which the signal flows. There's a toggle switch that allows you to choose 4, 6, or 8 filters (so that you can match up the tempo of the resulting percolation to different time signatures.) The sonic possibilities are hard to describe - try to imagine tremolo with a completely controllable wah filter on each pulse. Upsides: unique sounds are possible, each pedal is hand painted and individually numbered, lots of knobs, easy and fun to use. Downsides: pricey (in the $250-$300 range,) battery- powered only (I heard that Z-Vex is not UL listed and therefore cannot legally include an AC adapter jack on its products,) not something you'd be apt to use every day. Still, I cherish mine and don't regret trading in several run-of-the-mill pedals to obtain this singular device. (www.zvex.com)