Roland AF-60 Bee Gee

The Roland AF-60 Bee Gee is a fuzz/distortion pedal first released in 1975¹. On his JHS Pedals video on the pedal, Josh Scott notes that "Roland release the BG in 1975"². It is best known as the standalone version of the "jet mode" of the AP-7 Jet Phaser, the phaser pedal that Roland had released shortly before¹.

What it does

The Bee Gee takes the jet mode sound of the AP-7 Jet Phaser and puts it in its own box, without the phaser circuitry around it¹. Players who wanted that fuzz character but not the Jet Phaser's full effect set could get it here.

Controls

The pedal carries two controls:

• An output volume control for the fuzz stage¹
• A tone potentiometer¹

The tone control is the notable difference from its parent pedal. As Aion FX puts it, "The potentiometer on the AF-60 is much more usable" than the Jet Phaser's switch-based tone arrangement¹. Where the Jet Phaser gave players stepped tone options, the Bee Gee's knob allows for finer adjustment of the fuzz voicing.

Where it came from

The AF-60 belongs to Roland's run of 1970s effects pedals, appearing in 1975¹². It grew directly out of the AP-7 Jet Phaser, sharing the circuit of that pedal's jet mode¹. Roland would go on to make other distortion-oriented pedals, including the Roland Torcido, the Roland Funny Cat and the Roland GR-D V-Guitar Distortion, and fuzz-style effects of this era sit alongside today's fuzz pedals and distortion pedals.

Videos

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