A bond wire feed system has a wire tensioning unit with a chamber that has a wire inlet aperture and a wire outlet aperture. The wire inlet and outlet apertures have centers that are aligned with a central axis of the chamber. A clamp is positioned to receive a bond wire provided from the wire outlet aperture. The clamp has at least two jaws movable relative to each other and arranged to grip the wire to align a central axis of the wire with the central axis of the chamber. The jaws are also movable along the central axis of the wire in order to pull the wire through the wire tensioning unit.