TONE REPORT WEEKLY: How long have
you been building pedals and how did you
get started? Had you modded pedals prior
to building?
PETER RUTTER: My first build was the
“Confidence Booster” kit from BYOC in the
spring of 2008. It didn’t work. But I kept
going anyway, building and later modding a
few of their DIY kits. I was hooked. From
there, my background in math helped me
learn how the pedals and mods worked. I
designed my first circuit board a year later,
and by the fall of 2009 I had developed my
ideas into pedals that would eventually
become the Alpha Dog, Blueprint,
Bumblebee, Fiery Red Horse, Old School,
Pale Horse, and The Scream.
TRW: What’s behind the name VFE? I notice
you also have a sub-brand of VonRutter
Family Effects now. What’s the distinction?
PR: As you noted, VFE stands for VonRutter
Family Effects. It’s a bit of an inside joke
involving my family doing a Sound of Music
inspired number as the “VonRutter Family
Singers” (we are terrible singers). When my
hobby morphed into a business, I had been
building & selling my pedals on eBay under
the name VonRutter and my brother was
doing most of the manufacturing, hence the
family portion of the name. We are bringing
back the VonRutter name to give me an
avenue to continue experimenting with all
my crazy ideas, without the requirements of
a large-scale product launch.
TRW: From the outside looking in, it seems
like the VFE niche is refining classic circuits
and making them extremely “tweakable.” Is
that a fair description?
PR: Definitely. While there are pedals that
don’t fit this description (Rocket EQ,
Triumvirate, etc.), this is definitely my bread
and butter. There is so much more sonic
territory in these classic pedals that was
previously only accessible to DIY enthusiasts.
One of my core design goals is to give as
much of the control back to the player - so
they can have an integral part in the creating
their perfect tone.
TRW: Which of your pedals is the most
popular? I’m guessing the Merman is newly
popular. What’s the all-time best seller?
PR: Trends go up and down all the time, but
the all time best seller is the Alpha Dog
distortion. It’s thick and raw, and I’ve gotten
a lot of positive feedback from all sorts of
genres, including jazz and metal. The
Merman overdrive and Focus mid booster
have been our best sellers since they
launched in the fall. But the Pale Horse is
one we expect to take the crown over time,
as it’s quite unique in its dynamic drive
capabilities.
TRW: The online custom shop you have
developed is amazing and user-friendly.
What all do you offer and what was the
inspiration for it?
PR: I had the Pedal Wizard in mind for a few
years before we launched it. From the first
pedals sold under the VonRutter name, I
have stuck with the same physical control
layout for one big reason: Ease of
customization. The wizard allows the
customer to choose the effect, paint color,
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