Did anyone already made a clone of the Valley People Dynamite ?

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innercityman

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Everything is in the title. I would be very interested if a clone of this classic compressor exists. I made some research and as I found nothing, I wonder why almost any classic piece of gear can be DIYed but not this one...
 
innercityman said:
Everything is in the title. I would be very interested if a clone of this classic compressor exists. I made some research and as I found nothing, I wonder why almost any classic piece of gear can be DIYed but not this one...
It looks like it could be quite feasible, since all the components are still commonly available.
I guess the apparent complexity of the schematic acts as a deterrent. Cloners tend to concentrate on products that are simple to grok, or products in high demand.
I think the fact that the mechanical design is proprietary and thus not compatible with other plug-in formats, is a concern. It maybe that at some time in history there were 500-compatible Dyna-Mites, but I'm not sure.
I guess if someone made a 500-compatible version, it may attract some potential buyers.
 
I think the valley as a company, and thus the dynamite was brought back to life just a couple of years ago. Wasn't our very own Pucho connected to them somehow?

The only complicated-to-source part is the TA-101 ultra-matched NPN/PNP transistor array

The TA-101 a thing of beauty really, was used in our calrec UA8000 too, it's "own sound" was much, much prettier than the Dbx used in the ssl at the time (second half of the 80'es).

/Jakob E.
 

Attachments

  • dynamite-vca.gif
    dynamite-vca.gif
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This is maybe a stupid question, but can one manually match these transistors like in the array and use discrete circuit instead of the IC?
 
the TA101 is not an IC, but a (manually?) tightly-matched set of TO-92 type NPN and PNP transistors cast into a common epoxy block, probably for thermal. See attached .pdf for reference

so yes, in theory you could make your own by matching, but you'd need to know what parameters to focus on (or that valley focus'ed on) to get the same type behavior and misbehavior.

Perhaps contact them at TELEX 558610

/Jakob E.
 

Attachments

  • TA-101 NPN-PNP array datasheet small.pdf
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Thank you!

It looks like the way these are matched is explained in this patent https://patents.google.com/patent/US4341962A/en?oq=us4341962

Patent is already expired.
 
Cloners tend to concentrate on products that are simple to grok, or products in high demand.

I'm sure that it would be a successful DIY project. This compressor is already emulated in plug-ins, which means that it's considered as a Classic. Also it is part of the D-Pack add-on option with the Allen & Heath Avantis live console which I work with. A must have compressor !
Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to start a project like this but you guys should be able to do it. Come on !
 
Years ago I have built a compressor with my own 'cloned' T101.
I used selected BC547/BC557 transistors.
The transistors were carefully selected for Ube and Hfe.
As far as I remember, control voltage leakthrough was the biggest problem if the transistors were not perfectly matched.
Distortion did not suffer too much.
So....it can be done!
 
The Dynamite is still available as a 500 series module. I have one of these and it´s one of the most characterful compressors ever. The plugins doesn´t do any justice to the hardware. The hardware is a must-have IMHO. It doesn´t contain a TA101 in it´s original shape, though. Since it´s all surface mount they probably transferred it into SMD land.

Valley People now is a brand of PMI audio. At some point they offered the TA101 on their homepage as spare part. On their current homepage I couldn´t find anything about that, unfortunately. Maybe it´d need a phonecall to ask them if they want to make it available to the public.

EMT 266 transient limiters use the TA101, too, btw.
 
http://valleypeople.com/dynamite.html

I believe PMI had the intention of porting more original 800-series modules over to API500, but not much activity from their side lately...

I have loads of original GainBrain/Comander/Kepex/Leveler and they all still are very good at doing their job, despite their age.

The 800 format is physically much deeper than API500 and their modules are pretty packed with components; recreating these in 500 in thru-hole would be a challenge I believe.

Best,
Rogy
 

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