A catheter system (100) for treating a vascular lesion (106) within or adjacent to a vessel wall (108) includes an energy source (124), a plurality of energy guides (122A) and a system controller (126). The energy source (124) generates energy that is received by the energy guides (122A). The system controller (126) controls the energy source (124) so that the energy is sequentially directed to each of the plurality of energy guides (122A) in an advancing wavefront. The system controller (126) controls a firing rate of the energy source (124) to each of the plurality of energy guides (122A). The system controller (126) can control a firing sequence to the plurality of energy guides (122A) so that the advancing wavefront is generated toward the vascular lesion (106) from near a balloon proximal end (104P) and from near a balloon distal end (104D). The system controller (126) can control the energy source (124) so that the energy from the energy source (124) is alternatively directed to at least two of the plurality of energy guides (122A) at a different firing energy level from one another. The energy level can be based on pulse width, wavelength and/or amplitude of the energy pulse(s).