Are these chips fake?

[guilds100]

I purchased these from ebay and they look different than any other JRC4558s Ive seen. The 4558s that I have had in the past look like all the pics I see on the internet where 4558 is in the top line with JRC on the second line and some numbers in the third line in a very specific font. I cant find a pic that looks like these. I dont want to get into an auguement with the seller only to find out these are real. Anyone seen something that looks like this? The auction photo was exactly like all the other pics on the web. These do not look like the pic from the auction.

[slacker]

No way to tell just from a picture, throw it in a circuit and see if you can hear the JRC mojo

[Mike Burgundy]

1) Do they *work*? Match specs? That's a first quick test, see if it works. Then maybe try and test actual specs if you can, at least noise and impedances.
2) All I've ever seen is white script 4558(D) with bold JRC *after* that.
Try and test them, and you could gently ask the guy why these do not match the auction pic. It's not the same as ordering a red guitar and getting a blue one, but still. If anything tests off, hope you get your money back. Hope they weren't too expensive (there's a lot of arguments you don't need the magic chip...)

[oldschoolanalog]

Who/where are they from? HK/far east?

[mremic01]

I got a bunch of those from Tayda a while back. Thy had been selling the regular looking ones before that. They work, but I don't think they sound that great.

[seedlings]

Dress her up with black goo 



CHAD

[guilds100]

Thanks for the replies. To answer a few question, they came from china, paid $10 for them, I havent tried them yet and plan on doing it tonight. Im afraid what mremic01 said is what I have. Below is the pic from the auction which is the only reason I bought them. This is what is was expecting to get.

[chi_boy]

Who is the seller?  They make thier own reputations, so I don't think a reference or a link will make much difference in the grand scheme.

[guilds100]

I tried the chip and it does function, but not as good as the real thing. Very low fi.   

Ebay seller is leiqingjun1973.

[guilds100]

I heard back from the vendor and they're reply was that these chips are for the same use and were made in a different factory. I'm going to send them an email link to a fender strat for dirt cheap, and when they buy it, I'm going to send them a peavey predator and tell them it is for the same use and just made in a different factory.

[Mark Hammer]

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.

[seedlings]

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.

Respectfully, I think the 'that's not what was in the advertised picture' feeling is the entire reason for his post.  Had they pictured the actual product, and he bought it, then we wouldn't be reading about it.

CHAD

[artifus]

respectfully, a 4558 (carrot) was offered and a 4558 (carrot) was received. did the last big mac you bought look like the one on the poster?

[Mark Hammer]

There may well be pictures posted in this thread (apart from the gutshot of a Klon Centaur) that I can't see, depicting the original ad itself.

If the seller was pitching the chips as explicitly intended to appeal to makers of a specific kind of pedal, then I can understand the irritation when what arrived was not what was pictured.

But if the vendor was simply selling a bunch of 4558s, and repurposed a group shot of chips that had some preferred markings on them (but which were not the exact chips that would be sent), I don't know how that's different from someone with an amp or gutar to sell on Craigslist or Kijiji, who snags their pics for the ad from a corporate site.

One of the nice things about ordering chips from more traditional vendors, whether big places like Mouser, or smaller specialized vendors like SBE, is that teh device manufacturer is specified, not randomly and haphazardly substituted.

[seedlings]

respectfully, a 4558 (carrot) was offered and a 4558 (carrot) was received. did the last big mac you bought look like the one on the poster?

The last big mac I bought tasted like poster paper.  (poster paper with re-hydrated dehydrated onion).

CHAD

[Mark Hammer]

Ever eaten a dual op-amp with "special sauce"?  YUM! 

[guilds100]

The vender has sent me another email offering me $2 to accept the faulty goods. I'm just going to right it off as a loss and leave an appropriate feedback so no one else will be taken. The only reason I ordered these was to test the shipping speed and trustworthyness (if that is sure a word) of dealing with a chinese ebay auction. The speed of recieving the product was excellent!

[Mustachio]

Yeah man its a bummer but it happens. I ordered 10 ca3080s from china last year. Got em not a single one worked. Felt really really flimsy looked way diff all the signs that something was off.

I was sure I messed something up building a dynacomp circuit on vero with a few mods. It couldn't be the chips..... So I ordered some new old stock RCA ca3080 metal can style from a guy in America. Popped one in and bam, circuit was fine and the 10 chips I got from china where bad, or possibly good chips relabeled, and not the same type or pin out .

I immediately went to ebay to find the seller and tell them None of the chips worked for me. But I couldn't find them, The stranger thing was I looked in my purchase history and they where not there.  Long story short I found the emails with their name did some searching and found out their ebay account was removed/suspended. And I never got my money back.

It happens , I'm just glad it was on something small , I think I only had around 10-15 bucks into it. Because of that I have put off buying any ISD1020A chips from china. Have wanted to build a looper. May buy an ISD chip from small bear in fact I think I just might after these 2 projects I'm working on are done

Also I just put in an order a few days ago I'm expecting in the mail soon from Tayda who seems to be great so far on all my orders. I ordered a buncha stuff, one of which is a batch of 4558's. If they look way diff ill A/B them in a tube screamer I built that has 4558's from mouser.

[guilds100]

Mustachio

Per mremic01 post above, you'll probably get the same chips I got. I did give one a test and it does function, just sounds terrible

[mremic01]

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.