Are these chips fake?

[cpm]

ICs and transistors with that grainy surface are most likely relabeled
they will work but wont match the expected specifications, but they're still useable in a majority of situations.

i got some J201 with similar finish, they are not genuine J201 for sure, but work nicely in the ranges of a 5457, but cheaper than those, and sound nice so i still use them.

[seedlings]

I just got in a Tayda order last night with a bunch of 4558s. Half were these fake looking ones, the other half normal. What's weird is that they were stuck into the foam in an alternating pattern.

I just ordered some from Tayda that have yet to arrive.  I got the super expensive twenty-cent-ers. 

CHAD

[Paul Marossy]

did the last big mac you bought look like the one on the poster?

The last one I got looked exactly like in the poster. 

OK, I confess, I've never even had a Big Mac. 

[guilds100]

It seems that the jrc4558 supply may be a little tainted. I better buy some from more trusted sources to get the product I want.

[Mustachio]

Just got mine today from tayda and they look great and legit. got some j201's as well ill check those out later they look ok ill have to test. but the 4558s look legit just like the ones i bought from digikey and mouser a while back.

[Dirk_Hendrik]

Um, you DO realize that 4558s are used for an awful lot of other things besides overdrive pedals, right?  And in those applications, there would likely be NO discernible difference in performance.

If I'm feeding our pet rabbit, or a goat, a carrot is a carrot is a carrot,  If I'm making a carrot cake, then a sweeter carrot is preferred.  Don't fault them for having a product intended for a wide array of applications because it doesn't suit your specific application to your liking.

+1
I have trouble believing that components with a sales price of a few cents are components that went througgh the extra treatment of relabeling. Furthermore the top surface in that photo looks like the pretty average surface of any plastic chip case after the molding machine.
Leaves the text.
Some may have noticed that almost all manufacturers of stuff like this start to change over to laser engraving. Little reason to believe that, especially for this type of chip, the paint machine is taken out of storage again. Furthermore, what's making a chip after the wafer is ready? The wafet is cut into the chips which in turn are fed into the encasing line. This means that by altering the parameters of this line it knows how many bonding wires go from which to what coordinate and, after these are in place the whole package is encased in plastic. Last step is that the type number is engraved. Chances are good that after this 4558 production run the line was reprogrammed and started spitting out another chip type. No changes necessary other than selecting a different devive in the machines control software.

[cpm]

i have never come across that "grainy" surface in any IC or transistor that i have purchased from many (reputable) sources, or used in any board of any device i have disassembled. And the finish is very sloppy, sometimes is across the edges, not in an uniform way like it would be from a production line

Some of the supposedly "fake" transistors had the printing displaced or even upside down, and the grainy layer sometimes pouring over the edges... that is unnaceptable for any manufacturer standards, imho

[12Bass]

Those 4558s look fake to me.  I've never seen any JRC chips that look like that.  The markings and surface texture are wrong.  What I don't understand it why someone would go to the trouble of selling counterfeit 4558s, as it is pretty cheap op amp that does not sound that great anyway (at least in terms of high fidelity - probably fine in a distortion pedal).  What would they have used that was cheaper and sounded even worse???

[Toney]

Well I strongly doubt they are JRC 4558. Perhaps some generic twin op-amp branded as JRC for a higher price as they would be good internet sellers.

I have never seen any reputable branded common op amp with that grainy "sanded look". Its similar to the look on the fake J201s doing the rounds and I am beginning to wondering if there is, in fact, some factory in China pumping out generic knock offs which then get branded up for sale.

Easiest way would be to take some high resolution photos and email them to JRC. They seem quite good at responding to correspondence.