Counterfeit 2SC2912 (and others)

[PB2]

Originally Posted by homemodder

Hi

Ive purchased from MCM before mostly Sanyo transistors, its the first time Ive seen a fake from them but obviously it could happen, still I would highly recommend MCM for purchasing of parts.

I have to wonder how you can say this given the number of reports of fakes from them here on the board. Fred and I have wasted a lot of time on his particular problem, it is not a minor thing IMO. Fred's driver board is probably hacked, not because of his ability, but because he had to swap parts so many times. Consider that in two separate orders he got fakes? Next he will have to waste a part that he paid for to hack open and build some confidence that the other is real. I will certainly buy first from a dealer that I trust since I don't like to waste my time and risk my projects on this sort of situation.

I welcome a solution from Mr. Minix that doesn't involve using customers for test of his inventory. Certainly there is a huge difference between we provide a quality product from the start, and we stand behind our product and will take back parts that customers determine are fake or defective.

[davada]

Chris,

I think the funniest thing I ever came across was when I sent one of my guys out to our local supplier for some transistors we needed. I don't remember the part number but I do remember they were TO-220. My guy returned with the right part number except the transistors were in TO3 cans. Stamped right on the top was the TO-220 part number.

My supplier waved their no return policy on those ones.

Do you remember the old 70s Tigersaurus power amp kits. I couldn't get one of those to last more that an hour without blowing up. Was it a bad design or fake parts? LOL.

David.

[PB2]

Originally Posted by davada

Chris,

Do you remember the old 70s Tigersaurus power amp kits. I couldn't get one of those to last more that an hour without blowing up. Was it a bad design or fake parts? LOL.

David.

I built the Lil'Tiger when I was in 4th grade, it worked fine except into 4 ohm loads.
The Universal Tiger was bigger and more difficult I built, rebuilt and scratch built several of those. I have seen one of these work for over 20 years without too many problems.

This is a 200W/ch Tigersaurus that I scratch built - started the mechanical design
and power supply when I was 16 years old:


A bit about it here:
Dx Blame ES .... based into the Blameless, i am trying a new amplifier

A Tiger thread:
Universal Tiger

[davada]

This is the one I was referring to.
I told a friend of mine that it was a great amp, so he order two and had me build them.
I think I was about 16 or 17 at the time.

[davada]

And the schematic.

[homemodder]

Originally Posted by PB2

I have to wonder how you can say this given the number of reports of fakes from them here on the board. Fred and I have wasted a lot of time on his particular problem, it is not a minor thing IMO. Fred's driver board is probably hacked, not because of his ability, but because he had to swap parts so many times. Consider that in two separate orders he got fakes? Next he will have to waste a part that he paid for to hack open and build some confidence that the other is real. I will certainly buy first from a dealer that I trust since I don't like to waste my time and risk my projects on this sort of situation.

I welcome a solution from Mr. Minix that doesn't involve using customers for test of his inventory. Certainly there is a huge difference between we provide a quality product from the start, and we stand behind our product and will take back parts that customers determine are fake or defective.

Im not aware of any other complaints from MCM, I could be wrong but I think this is the first time anyone has complained about MCM and fakes in this forum. If you go over to the head fi forum, most of the guys buy from mcm too and I havent seen complaints there either. Theres been complaints from other very reputable companies too, like farnell and RS electronics, I had a major problem with the last one mentioned with this same particular transistor which I like to use as predriver in triple output stages. I had to get sanyo to send them a letter stating they were fakes before they would even believe me, the samples looked very much like the 2nd example posted in the pic. Fred got fakes on two orders because he ordered the same transistor twice in a short timeframe which would then naturally come from the same order that MCM had in stock.

From them I havent had any fakes as yet, I would be sure to complain then but they have some very hard to find and discontinued parts which you wouldnt find anywhere else and good service. Fakes are a universal industry problem not a MCM electronics sells fakes problem, it happens to all these companies.

Learn how to discern fakes visually is the only way to protect yourself, I usually ask to be sent a pic of the stock they have before I purchase especially if its a first time purchase from that company, when the company is not willing to do so I dont buy, no matter how reputable they are. Maybe I get away with it as I dont purchase 2 or 3 units at a time but in 50s or 100s or all their stock if the part is hard to come by.

[PB2]

Originally Posted by davada

Chris,

Do you remember the old 70s Tigersaurus power amp kits. I couldn't get one of those to last more that an hour without blowing up. Was it a bad design or fake parts? LOL.

David.

The huge amp that I showed is a scratch built version of that design. Several here have commented that it is one of the few Tigers that did not blow up. Mine never failed just needs to be recapped now.

[PB2]

Originally Posted by davada

This is the one I was referring to.
I told a friend of mine that it was a great amp, so he order two and had me build them.
I think I was about 16 or 17 at the time.

That is it, the real version of course!

Do you still have it?

[fredlf]

This the first in a series of posts showing pictures of the original Toshiba parts on my Adcom and the replacement 2SD424 I obtained from MCM.

These two are of originals in my amp. Q17 is the transistor that failed. The other picture is of a transistor on the other channel. One side of this channel was obviously rebuilt at some point by the prior owner.

[fredlf]

This is the part I received from MCM.