Roland Jet Phaser

The Roland Jet Phaser AP-7 is a vintage pedal that combines a phase circuit and fuzz tones in one unit, a six-mode phase and fuzz pedal made famous in the 1970s¹. It is known for mixing phaser sounds with fuzz tones². The original was packaged in a cast-steel enclosure similar to the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble and the DM-1 Delay Machine³.

Where it came from

The Jet Phaser AP-7 was made famous in the 1970s as a six-mode phase and fuzz pedal⁴², known for mixing phaser sounds with fuzz tones². The original was packaged in a cast-steel enclosure similar to the Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble and the DM-1 Delay Machine³.

The "jet" stage of the circuit is best known from the Roland AF-60 Bee Gee, which Aion FX describes as "the standalone version of the 'jet mode' of the legendary AP-7 Jet Phaser"⁵. The AF-60 adds an output volume control for the fuzz stage and a tone potentiometer that Aion FX calls much more usable than the Jet Phaser's switch, which offers only "full bass" and "full treble" settings⁵.

What it does

The AP-7 puts a fuzz stage ahead of an eight-stage phaser, so the phase sweeps act on a distorted signal rather than a clean one. PastFx, which makes a reproduction, notes that the pedal "was able to achieve thick swirling phase and faux Leslie rotary speaker effects"¹. Gearnews describes the design as "famous for mixing phaser sounds with fuzz tones"².

Reproductions and descendants

The AP-7 is long out of production, but the circuit has been rebuilt several times:

• Warm Audio Jet Phaser (product page): a recreation of the AP-7 described by GuitarPlayer.com as "a faithful recreation of the original 'jet phase' circuit found in Roland's AP-7 Jet Phaser"⁶. Its Phase modes 1 and 2 deliver traditional phase sounds with depth controls, and Warm Audio suggests trying it on electric piano, synth, bass guitar and drum machines as well as guitar⁴. Gearnews found it "handles everything from clean guitar to synth or bass input"². Premier Guitar notes that its controls, except for the battery/DC adapter switch, are identical to those on a Roland original³.
• PastFx Jet Phaser: a faithful reproduction of the 1970s AP-7, with a bonus internal Phase Depth micro switch that allows a deeper phase when in low phase depth mode⁷.

For more on how this design sits among its relatives, see the site's pages on Phaser Pedals and Fuzz Pedals.

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