Don't bother with NTE replacement parts!!

[Paul Marossy]

I will admit, that even though I've had issues with NTE parts, it comes in handy to have a fry's down the street with a whole lot of usable parts.

The bottom line for me is that they work in a pinch, but I try and stay away from them if at all possible.

One reason I stay away from them is that I don't know exactly how they get their "replacement" parts. Are they factory rejects? And if so, why didn't the factory destroy them? Do IC chip / transistor manufacturers sell their out-of-spec devices to the highest bidder?! Or I wonder if they are buyouts of surplus parts. I would be interested to know the real answer to those questions.

[compuwade]

I will admit, that even though I've had issues with NTE parts, it comes in handy to have a fry's down the street with a whole lot of usable parts.

The bottom line for me is that they work in a pinch, but I try and stay away from them if at all possible.

One reason I stay away from them is that I don't know exactly how they get their "replacement" parts. Are they factory rejects? And if so, why didn't the factory destroy them? Do IC chip / transistor manufacturers sell their out-of-spec devices to the highest bidder?! Or I wonder if they are buyouts of surplus parts. I would be interested to know the real answer to those questions.

Yeah , and how many of them are fakes?

[petemoore]

One reason I stay away from them is that I don't know exactly how they get their "replacement" parts.
  As long as they're in spec., does it matter ? Probably from suppliers.
  Are they factory rejects?
  Not if they're on the shelf for sale.
  And if so, why didn't the factory destroy them?
  Which ones...was there something wrong with one or a batch?
  Do IC chip / transistor manufacturers sell their out-of-spec devices to the highest bidder?!
  They very often don't tend to do it publicly.
  Or I wonder if they are buyouts of surplus parts. I would be interested to know the real answer to those questions.
  Me too !
  I'm under the impression that the NTE parts basically perform as specified or did I miss something...last time they came up [because of prices and polite etc.] it was mostly about some of the item tags having high dollar on them, though the parts perform as expected [if you know what to expect].
  Yup, for Jfets in stompbox projects, the 458's didn't cover enough territory to find uses, they were high gain and 'stiff' sounding, try the other 5457's or whatever.
 

[Cliff Schecht]

One reason I stay away from them is that I don't know exactly how they get their "replacement" parts.
  As long as they're in spec., does it matter ? Probably from suppliers.
  Are they factory rejects?
  Not if they're on the shelf for sale.
  And if so, why didn't the factory destroy them?
  Which ones...was there something wrong with one or a batch?
  Do IC chip / transistor manufacturers sell their out-of-spec devices to the highest bidder?!
  They very often don't tend to do it publicly.
  Or I wonder if they are buyouts of surplus parts. I would be interested to know the real answer to those questions.
  Me too !
  I'm under the impression that the NTE parts basically perform as specified or did I miss something...last time they came up [because of prices and polite etc.] it was mostly about some of the item tags having high dollar on them, though the parts perform as expected [if you know what to expect].
  Yup, for Jfets in stompbox projects, the 458's didn't cover enough territory to find uses, they were high gain and 'stiff' sounding, try the other 5457's or whatever.
 

According to NTE (on Mouser), NTE tests their components to make sure that they meet or exceed manufacturers specifications. I assume that they are buying surplus parts and repackaging them. Or they could be buying bulk parts directly from the manufacturer and relabeling them. I'm not so sure myself. I must say though that from the looks of the IC and transistor packages, they're probably buying surplus parts and relabeling them. NTE parts always look like they are using older IC and transistor epoxy type casings as opposed to more modern plastic casings.

[thedefog]

I tried using NTE equivalent Power Transistors to replace blown ones in a Wurlitzer 200a and got a nice high-pitched whine out of the amp. This was AFTER I had done a complete cap & transistor job on it as well. Needless to say, I had to shell out for the more expensive NOS parts. But as soon as they were installed, the noise/whining went away.

[Paul Marossy]

According to NTE (on Mouser), NTE tests their components to make sure that they meet or exceed manufacturers specifications. I assume that they are buying surplus parts and repackaging them. Or they could be buying bulk parts directly from the manufacturer and relabeling them. I'm not so sure myself. I must say though that from the looks of the IC and transistor packages, they're probably buying surplus parts and relabeling them. NTE parts always look like they are using older IC and transistor epoxy type casings as opposed to more modern plastic casings.

My guess is that they use old surplus stuff.

I tried using NTE equivalent Power Transistors to replace blown ones in a Wurlitzer 200a and got a nice high-pitched whine out of the amp. This was AFTER I had done a complete cap & transistor job on it as well. Needless to say, I had to shell out for the more expensive NOS parts. But as soon as they were installed, the noise/whining went away.

My guess it that's probably because they have one NTE transistor cross referenced to about two dozen transistor numbers/types, and the specs on all of them don't exactly match. Their transistors seem to be especially unpredictable in terms of performance.