Has anybody purchased any LM307H (TO99) Op Amps through eBay? In particular from Hong Kong or China?
Normally these come available at about $5 each + another $5 shipping. Lately however - I see they are available in packages of 5 ($15, or $3 each) and 10 ($27 or $2.70 each) with just $4 shipping for the whole order. Cost is good, shipping cost is more than fair and the seller rating is very good? (Duties/Tariffs/Taxes will be country dependent and your responsibility)
I'm always cautious and often skeptical about buying from the east due to counterfeit products, but I can't see how these would be profitable as fakes. I'm thinking they must have found boxes of NOS. (brand appears to be NSC)
I can't help but think that anyone with an old Musicman amp(s) (running on LM307H op amps) could benefit from buying a 10 pack.
Any experience? Any thoughts?
OP AMPS
I've unfortunately succumbed to buy a lot of small stuff from Tayda Electronics, which comes from Malaysia, supposedly. However, they always seem to SHIP from Lakeland, Colorado, so they obviously have a warehouse there too. So far, I have been pretty pleased with their stuff. Ran into a batch of DC 90 deg power plugs that CRUMBLED when trying to assemble though. Anyway, I've ordered a bunch of IC's, transistors, hardware and many other items from them and SO FAR, haven't had any bad SS stuff(YET!). Even ordered a few PT2399 and built a pseudo reverb with no problems. Anyway, my point is, there is NO way of telling anymore until you just jump in and buy some. THe fakes have gotten SO good at faking stuff that it's scary. I know some guys got screwed on some fake MJ series power transistors a few years ago that were junk so I know it's happening. If there's a market, they'll fake it. By the way, Tayda, who I HAVE experience with, doesn't handle LM307's. I alreadfy checked! I honestly think the best way is to go brown dog and get some of the currently discussed IC replacements and get better quality anyway. Mike.
For $20 I order up a 5 pack..
For $20 I order up a 5 pack... I agree the Brown Dog and alternate IC's are likely the best way to go... but if keeping the amp more original is important this could be an option. I ordered yesterday, got a shipping and tracking confirmation today. So far, so good...
I have a couple of known trouble spots in my amp, so I'll test them in those areas and track the results. I'll report back here in case anyone else is considering this as an option. It will likely be a month or so.
drop in replacement LM307H
http://www.littlediode.com.... i bought a set of 7 for my hd130 after the nte937 and doing the off set null grounding trick. didnt work... got these from little diod and holy crap, its alive .... alive i tell ya, lol well i powered it up and man did it ever sound so sweet, no static or thunder or crackling sounds just as it did 15 years ago when i was a young adult. if ever needed i would check this place out.
OP AMPS
Keep us informed. It's ALWAYS good to know your options, especially when it comes to 40 year old amps and their parts! Mike.
these are perfict
http://www.littlediode.com....
@JB: They certainly have the
@JB: They certainly have the correct OpAmp, but at £9 (approximately $14.50 US) each before shipping that can add up pretty fast. That said - if the ones I ordered turn out to be duds, Little Diode is certainly an option.
OFFSHORE
Just as a added dig to myself, I just sent another order to TAYDA ELECTRONICS just today. Just can't pass up those prices on common stuff. You can get a LOT of stuff for the bucks there. Switches, IC's, transistors. If you build some pedals like I do, they are invaluable. By the way, the ROCKETT ANIMAL is awesome. It's now my default drive/distortion. Gawd bless Veroboard! Mike.
Fast Shipping
Well - so far so good. The shipping was very quick, and they included a 10% discount code for my next order. Less than two weeks from the time I ordered until the product arrived in Winnipeg MB Canada from China. That's pretty quick.
Now I have to find time to try them out in my amp :) I'll report when I get the chance to test them - likely later in the week.
LM's
Hope they're the real thing. It would be nice to have a good source for them. Mike.
Tests complete - updates done
I had two really bad original IC's in my amp, so it was easy to test these. IC-1 was crackly (bacon in a frying pan) and IC-5 (reverb driver) was really thin.
I tested all 5 new IC's in IC-1... all of them checked out OK and sounded good. From there I replaced IC-1, IC-2, IC-3, IC-4 and IC-7 - testing after each change. There was noticeable changes - all for the better. Aside form IC-1, IC-7 produced the biggest difference and since it is common - the old IC must have had a negative effect on the entire amp.
IC-5 (reverb driver) was then replaced with the original IC-2 which appeared to sound fine. This made my reverb much warmer sounding.
So far - so good, but they only have an hour or so playing time in my home studio. I still need to get the amp to a stage for final testing.
For anyone interested (if this is not against policy), the Ebay Store I bought them from is UTSOURCE from China.
1 for $5, 5 for $15, 10 for $27, all options have $4 flat rate shipping ... As stated earlier, I had them in less than 2 weeks. They'll be getting a positive rating from me today.