Abstract: A multi-module system for advancing an electrode wire from a supply location to a field welding station via a plurality of spaced conduit sections is described. Each conduit section is succeeded and preceeded by a plurality of wire-advancing heads, with the front-most head adjacent the welding station being driven at constant speed and the remaining heads being driven at a variable tension. The tension in the variable-tension heads is initially set to advance the wire through the conduit sections in a continuous serpentine-like path. When the tension in the wire downstream of the forward-most head increases to impart a "straightening" component to the advancing wire, the forward-most head generates a control signal which is fed back via a regulator on the rear-most head to successively vary the tension in the successive rear heads in a successively decreasing manner corresponding to the decrease in total resistance of the wire tension seen by such successive heads.