Valley People Dyna-Mite
A piece of gear that caught my attention early on at Eden Studios was a Valley People Dyna-Mite. Housed in an ugly beige plastic case it stacked two channels of Dynamite in a very small package. Despite looking like a toy, it proved to be a huge-sounding device capable of eye-widening compression. A year later, at Sarm East, I discovered the epically-wonderful Allison Research Gain Brain, a masterpiece of savage compression & distortion
Later on I discovered the shared heritage of these two items, and the story of their creator, Paul Buff. His story has been written about online already and there’s a longer piece here, and more here, so no need to duplicate it
I’ve been working my way through the Valley back catalogue, buying & restoring these remarkable compressors. In the list below, everything with an underlined link is either in stock, or sold previously, and has a description with detailed photos. If you want an unvarnished opinion on the merits of the various models, email me
Significant pieces of Valley gear, in approximate chronological order, include:
- Allison Research Gain Brain
- Allison Research Kepex
- Valley People Dyna-mite
- Valley People Gain Brain II
- Valley People Kepex II
- Valley People Commander
- Valley People 440
- Valley People 610
- Valley International 440
- Valley International Dynamite
- Valley International Dynamite²
- Valley Audio Dynamite³
- Valley International Micro FX Compressor
Allison Research
Photo Credits: © Universal Audio & © The Telos Alliance
