2N3055 inside - commercial famous amplifier models, quasi complementary power output

I never had any bad luck with good second source like KEC, UTC, MOSPEC etc. At least they aren't fake. Although i'm not a professional but that was my experience. I never used anything from SolidStateInc, let's see.
If I read the tea leaves correctly, SS Inc is just a division of NTE. They seem to sell only JEDEC numbers, so at least you don’t have to worry about the Book of Lies leading you astray.



I was lucky. I was a business later, and became familiar with suppliers working for others and they got to know me. Starting out on my own was easy as pie.

Having a tax number and business number was a magic ticket - as well as a store front. I had no idea these suppliers would not deal with non-businesses until much later.

I started out ordering from McGee and CEI in high school. CEI’s policy officially was “dealer only”, but they told me as long as I was out of state and didn’t stick them with undeliverable CODs they’d treat me like anyone else. MCM (originally a spin off of it) didn’t have that restriction, and charged tax in Ohio. And they never batted an eye as to the COD address being a dorm room at USF. It goes to the desk in the mail room, left the money with them. obviously, they had plenty of college kids supporting their side hustles.
 
Mouser is where you get the real ones, at least in the US. If the package gets intercepted in customs, and fakes substituted, it’s not Mouser’s fault. It’s been known to happen.

Very rarely, fakes will sometimes make it into the legitimate distribution chain. If it happens, follow up on it - they WILL take it seriously.
 
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My name goes on everything I design, certify, test or repair. I will not risk my name on parts aI can't be sure are the real thing. It's bad enough that real parts occasionally fail, and the design you're working on may not be done well. Why ask for trouble?
Yes, of course. It is very important for your reputation because you're in a repair business. But for DIY or for non critical work we can use components from UTC, KEC or from other well known second source. I never used NTE parts so i can't tell about them.

If I read the tea leaves correctly, SS Inc is just a division of NTE. They seem to sell only JEDEC numbers, so at least you don’t have to worry about the Book of Lies leading you astray.
Excellent then :cool:

Anyways, i have a big MCM catalogue which is quite informative. From which i can learn Name of the many unknown components :)

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Well, actually, your name is on everything you do always. The cost to you in time to redo work is much higher than the parts cost. Plus one bad part can kill a bunch of others. I can't think of any justification to use questionable parts - ever. Because I am in business it makes my time and reputation much more valuable, but it is really the same for you.
 
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For DIY and non critical use, you can use parts from surplus houses, if you screen them. But never mix them with A-stock. Too much work for the average Joe, and not even cost effective unless you’re buying a wholesale lot and willing to do a test run. (Recall that Game that the Wadi were playing in Quark’s - “Sacrifice one so that two may live”. If you dont and they are fake you waste money). Someone in the service business would never bother with that. Of course UTC is going to be fine - most of the time. But are their D669 clones really up to the original, or are you better off using one of the TTA/C TO-126’s from Digikey? Good question. You may end up with the same 23 pF Cob either way. I know which Anatech would choose. If you NEEDED a TDA2050, there is no other option unless you want to see fire. But you don’t send one of those amps to the repair shop (way too much money, considering the purchase price).
 
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UTC made TDA2030/50L is as good as the original if not better & this is my personal experience. Even brand like logitech & others uses such clone chipamps in their PC speakers. UTC is a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, KEC is from South Korea. Both countries are matured enough in this business.

For Active & original parts generally i buy from RS COMPONENTS. Delivery is free & no customs duty :magnify: But they charged me $3.25 each for TIP35C :dead:, later same genuine ST Tip35/36C i purchased from Delhi at the rate of $0.80 each :xeye:
I bought 20 pairs total :cool:

But when i buy genuine transistors like Toshiba C5200/1943, ST BD139/40, OpAmps like TI 2134P, 5532A or passives like COG mlcc & Good electrolytics my go to source is RS COMP. If you really want C4793/A1837 you don't have other option other than KEC or UTC.
 
But it’s the same STYLE case as that old RCA. Any newer steel packages, including fakes, look more like those 2N6259’s - the bright steel finish. That leads one to believe that they were actually made back when that older package was in use. It might be in some parts of the world. But it’s going to be more expensive. If you’re in the business of building fakes, you use the cheapest thing you can get. So it probably IS a 2N3773, or at least something approaching one. It not one of those tiny little dies they stick in fake 2SC5200’s - even a real 2N3055 from that era is better than that. We know about when (some time before 1980) - we just don’t know whose. If it is newer, it’s from a production line or equipment that was used before 1980.
 
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Ok, i can live with that. I just wanted some robust TO-3 & you know i ordered few more :cheerful:
I have some good 150-200w to-264 so i don't have to worry about anything. Thanks for confirming that these transistors are of good quality/genuine. But i have a question in my mind, almost every major distributors has these SS transistor in their stock. How this is possible? Lot's of pre 80's transistors!

Regards
 
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They don’t do anywhere NEAR the volume that ON and others do. They may all have some handful or few hundred in stock or “factory stock available”, but don’t have the thousands or tens of thousands “on order” with some ridiculous lead time that’s more typical of OnSemi. That’s the difference in volume. If they DID sell that kind of volume, any old stock would have been long gone.
 
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