The don't fake JFETs now.......do they?

[karolisd]

I've bought some cheap j201s from ebay, too. They look the same as yours (without the letter "N" on the other side). However, I've made a pretty nice sounding plexi drive out of them.

[Toney]

Yeah I'm just "negotiating" via PayPal with the Polida guy now.
He knows that me sending them back with a PayPal-approved traceable method from  Australia to China just isn't worth it for a $30 sale vs his original shipping out of China.
He's all friendly and re-enforcing how he takes returns any time, "no problem" but the shipping discrepancy IS the problem.
 
Kinda bullsh*t no win situation. Oh well $30 lesson...


 

[Toney]

@karolisd  they are Fets of some type but just well out of J201 parameters by my testing.
Doesn't mean they cant sound good 
Good to hear you had decent results. Maybe I should just use them...

[Govmnt_Lacky]

@Toney,

I recently posted a thread about fake MN3005s that were from the eBay seller Polida:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=95978.0

You will notice from the thread that after requesting some information and proof that his/her product was authentic I was immediately "shut down" and told to find another seller!!

Needless to say..... I didn't make any purchases form Polida 

[deadastronaut]

polida sounds like a great ebayer.... ...what a (fill in appropriate slander).

'your words make me angry'.... ha ha ha...sorry man, but that is funny..

[darron]

thought i'd drop in my report.

we built a dr boogie with these fake j201's and it was poo! too much mushy high gain, and shrill sounding. and the noise specs were terrible. turning the guitar volume down still let lots of noise bleed through.




so... stay away from them.

[J0K3RX]

I just bought 500 surface mount Fairchild J201's from Mouser... Price not too bad either and I suspect they are the real deal..

[Paul Marossy]

I have a hard time buying that there are fake J201s and MN3005s, etc.

Making FETs, transistors & IC chips is a highly specialized thing that needs to be in a clean room environment with very specialized equipment. I just can't see some Chinese dudes making these in their garage, it's not a cheap nor an easy thing for people to just make counterfeits of these things. I think it is FAR more likely that they somehow get these things that might be genuine out-of-spec factory "rejects" and then sell them as if they were in-spec normal devices WITHOUT disclosing that they are factory seconds or whatever term would be used to describe them. With FETs, it's possible that maybe they are re-labeling them, but I can't see that happening with specialized IC chips like an MN3005.

I suppose there is a possibility that some dude in Malaysia or the Phillipines had the things needed to make now obsolete IC chips which were supposed to be destroyed that could have been sold to some dude in China on "the international black market", but I have a hard time seeing why someone would go after something like that. I mean they would make much much more money making counterfeit purses, shoes, etc. than on some very specialized IC chip that is used in a very small percentage of electronic devices.

[Scruffie]

I have a hard time buying that there are fake J201s and MN3005s, etc.

Making FETs, transistors & IC chips is a highly specialized thing that needs to be in a clean room environment with very specialized equipment. I just can't see some Chinese dudes making these in their garage, it's not a cheap nor an easy thing for people to just make counterfeits of these things. I think it is FAR more likely that they somehow get these things that might be genuine out-of-spec factory "rejects" and then sell them as if they were in-spec normal devices WITHOUT disclosing that they are factory seconds or whatever term would be used to describe them. With FETs, it's possible that maybe they are re-labeling them, but I can't see that happening with specialized IC chips like an MN3005.

I suppose there is a possibility that some dude in Malaysia or the Phillipines had the things needed to make stuff for obsolete IC chips which were supposed to be destroyed that could have been sold to some dude in China on "the international black market", but I have a hard time seeing why someone would go after something like that. I mean they would make much much more money making counterfeit purses, shoes, etc.

I can assure you they have no issue faking MN3005s, or restamping ICs, they're fake in that they plain don't work, not that they're copies (although some times they're restamped MN3008s or MN3205s, the latter not working in 3005 circuits).

However I find this J201 stuff subjective so far... could be factory rejects, could be just FETs bein' FETs.

[Paul Marossy]

Well, that is a possibility. Just taking some random IC chip and labeling it as an MN3005. That's outright lying. But still, there's not much money in that. It's foolishness if you ask me. If I wanted to sell fake products, I would go after stuff that most people want - shoes, purses, etc. - far more profit and demand in that than in messing around with the comparitively very small market of FETs and IC chips.

[defaced]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/22/fake-chinese-electronics-us-military-aircraft_n_1535089.html

[Paul Marossy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/22/fake-chinese-electronics-us-military-aircraft_n_1535089.html

Crap. Now the nuclear holocaust will happen because of one frickin counterfeit part somewhere. 

[Scruffie]

Well, that is a possibility. Just taking some random IC chip and labeling it as an MN3005. That's outright lying. But still, there's not much money in that. It's foolishness if you ask me. If I wanted to sell fake products, I would go after stuff that most people want - shoes, purses, etc. - far more profit and demand in that than in messing around with the comparitively very small market of FETs and IC chips.

The BBDs they sell at reasonable prices... about $20 a piece in a lot of cases so that's not such a bad way of making cash for a few pence stamp and some other random IC. And when companies like EHX are hit with a load of fakes, the market aint that small.

The FETs, yeah I can't beleive it's worth faking them.

[Paul Marossy]

There is the profit in volume of sales aspect of it. I don't know, I guess they have a different mentality than I do as "a westerner." But still, there is much more money to be made in stuff that appeals to people's vanity.

Kind of makes you wonder if anything you buy anymore is real or not. I've been seeing quite a few of these fake Les Pauls going around these days. Although almost every single thing we buy these days IS made in China. The whole thing just disgusts me for many reasons.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

And when companies like EHX are hit with a load of fakes, the market aint that small.

I assume there is a story behind this comment. Linky?? 

[Paul Marossy]

And when companies like EHX are hit with a load of fakes, the market aint that small.

I assume there is a story behind this comment. Linky??  

Yeah, I'd like to know about that one as well.

[amptramp]

There was a GIDEP ALERT program at one time for military manufacturers to warn other manufacturers about fake parts.  We got in a 74LS74 one time with 16 pins.  It would have been interesting to see what it actually was.  GIDEP = Government - Industry Data Exchange Program

[Paul Marossy]

There was a GIDEP ALERT program at one time for military manufacturers to warn other manufacturers about fake parts.  We got in a 74LS74 one time with 16 pins.  It would have been interesting to see what it actually was.  GIDEP = Government - Industry Data Exchange Program

It's kind of a scary thought when you think that an IC chip for example is to be installed in a piece of equipment which is rated for a certain temperature, and what is actually in there might not even be the same part at all and may have a much different (lower) temperature rating. So it could fail for one or more reasons, and who knows, with disastrous consequences. Don't they have a dude in a lab somewhere that checks parts to make sure they meet specs?

Anyway, this is a very insidious problem I can see.  

[Scruffie]

And when companies like EHX are hit with a load of fakes, the market aint that small.

I assume there is a story behind this comment. Linky??  

Yeah, I'd like to know about that one as well.

Can't be bothered to find the quote but when they bought a load of MN3005s to build there DMM W/Tap Tempo 1S addition, they got a lot of fake chips which is why that is only made in small batches (think there's about 400-500 units at current) as they find real ones and they made the DMM W/Tap Tempo 550 edition so they could use 4 x MN3008 which are easier to find.

[Paul Marossy]

If it looks to good to be true, it usually is.