Fake op-amps

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2 responses to “Fake op-amps”

1. 

   Orson

   May 10, 2022

   So does this mean we should really be wary of buying any components from Aliexpress? I’ve heard about the fake diodes from them (and eBay), now fake op amps. I order a lot of 100 390pf capacitors, I wonder about those now, too.

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   1. 

      admin

      May 10, 2022

      That’s a good question. I’ve bought some stuff from Aliexpress. Things like caps, 3PDT switches, and knobs. These seem hard to fake. And they work fine. Shipping takes a while but the prices are cheap, you get more for your money.

      When it comes to chips I’m not sure what to think. I have all of these op-amps, which seem to work, except for the LM308’s which don’t seem to work. But are these LT072’s real TL072’s? I’m not sure. Often making guitar pedals we use our ears. Death by Audio has been known to use transistors upside down and people are buying those pedals and liking them! From that perspective I’d say just use the cheap op-amps!

      On the other hand, if you have a specific circuit that has some requirements, it would be nice to know that you were using a part that matches the label. It’s incredibly frustrating to debug something for hours and later figure out a chip is bad, is the noise you’re hearing coming from an op-amp that should have a JFET input but doesn’t because it’s not what the label says it is.

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