Two different regimes of Q-switching in the same implementation of an actively Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser are demonstrated. Depending on the active fiber length and repetition rate of an intracavity Q-cell (acousto-optic modulator), the laser operates either in the regime of common, rather long and low-power, pulses composed of several sub-pulses or in the one of very short and powerful stimulated Brillouin scattering-induced pulses. The basic physical reason of the laser system to oscillate in one of these two regimes is the existence or absence of CW narrow-line “bad-cavity” lasing in the intervals when the Q-cell is blocked