You don't have to worry too much with stuff on eBay, you just have to buy from someone with a good track record. I'm putting a rather large order of IC's and I used to order a lot from g_cmarket, and polida2008, but g_cmarket has recently sold poor, defective, or seemingly couterfeit/fake IC's to Miro, and Polida2008 for shipping can take forever. I haven't gotten fakes from g_cmarket, but I won't order from them now because of what happened to Miro, and polida2008 I may order from as I haven't had any problems with them. There's also el-parts that I've had good luck with too, and there are a few others I "follow" that are reliable.
I've also, been reading a lot about how to spot fakes, and counterfeits because it's always in the back of my mind. When you look at the pictures avoid the ones that look like they may have been sanded or have a different texture, or the print looks off, or the tooling markings (holes and such) look to have been filled. Also, if they are beyond cheap compared to all other sellers, avoid, don't even think about those ones, as there's a high probability they're fakes. When you get them in inspect them for the same issues, and try one in an effect that you know works and how it should sound to test that they are good. If not, report immediately to the seller and eBay, both tog at your money back and to being it to their attention as it's illegal and eBay does take action.
But, I can tell you from the rat I built for bass, I originally had a normal lm308 in there, and if sounded good, but have since switched to a NOS lm308ah metal can style IC and it sounds smoother, and less fizzy. But, then again I have Ge diodes in place of the normal Si, and changed some of te resistors in the gain stage that act as a filter as well.
Locked
