Counterfeit?

[Amblifier]

Hello guys,

Recently i bought some of this transistors. Are these counterfeit?

Greetings

[richie00boy]

Nobody can tell from a simple picture like that. I suggest you have a look at Rod Elliot's ESP site and the counterfeit section.

[tlf9999]

I am just curious about this. I have been buying electronic parts for quite sometimes (over 30 years) and have yet to encounter a counterfeit (knock on wood).

Just from this forum, it seems to me that the problem of counterfeit seems to be much more so in Europe and Asia (I live in the US).

I wanted to know if that is typical and if so why. Has anyone from the US encountered substantial counterfeit problems too?

[anatech]

Hi tlf9999,
Many problems with counterfits in Canada. I continue to buy from an old source, but I have got them from other vendors. I find that if you buy on price you may get some excellent examples of fakes. There are people in the States that have machines to relabel transistors, so beware.

-Chris

[jacco vermeulen]

BMM in Hellevoetsluis sells the 1265N/3182N for a dollar and cents.
Considering that Toshiba hasn't made these either in a long time, you can draw your own conclusion.
These are the shiniest Toshiba devices i've ever seen. (i'm a Toshaholic)
It is easy to find lists of discontinued devices just by googling.

I tend to read more posts than place them, this forum seems to be filled with pics and posts from US citizens who bought fakes.

[tlf9999]

Originally posted by anatech
I continue to buy from an old source, but I have got them from other vendors.

I do that as well. most of my stuff comes from either neighborhood stores that I have frequented a lot or online (more so lately as the neighborhood stores are dying out).

I have bought a lot from digikey and found them to be an excellent source with great customer service. Not the cheapest in town but does save a lot of time in debugging out cheapo/fake parts.

Where do people buy their parts from? Maybe we can list out good / bad experieneces people have?

[Amblifier]

Originally posted by richie00boy
Nobody can tell from a simple picture like that. I suggest you have a look at Rod Elliot's ESP site and the counterfeit section.

The thought this transistors are fake is because when i used them in a Class A CSS amp the amplifier oscilated heavily. When i replaced them with MJE15030 everything worked OK.

This is not the first time i encounter this kind of problem. A while ago i builded a class A headphone amplifier with BD139 output. This amp was also oscilating until i discovered the BD139's where fake. When i replaced them with new genuie BD139's everything was working fine.

Greetings

[anatech]

Hi tlf9999,
My source closed last year. He still orders special for me but ......

I need a new, reliable source. I don't care about the price within reason, I'm happy to pay the going rate for real parts. So a list of reliable suppliers is in order. Two lists (North America and Europe) would be of value I think to most of us.

-Chris

:edited with the permission of Chris

[pinkmouse]

Much as I support the principles of naming and shaming, it is rather iffy ground for diyAudio, legally speaking. I think it is best just to stick to recommendations of good suppliers.

Thanks...

[anatech]

Hi pinkmouse,
Accept my apologies and remove the offending name please. Is there a way to help people avoid untrusworthy vendors?
-Chris