The Sabbra Cadabra is Catalinbread's overdrive built around Tony Iommi's early Black Sabbath tone: an always-on treble booster plugged into cranked Laney Supergroup amps, reworked for players running their amps clean at lower volumes1. The Gallery Series edition is a limited run of that same pedal, dressed in specially commissioned artwork by Matt Stikker on a Disco Purple enclosure with a purple light2.
Under the hood it is the familiar Sabbra Cadabra: a Rangemaster-style booster feeding a Laney Supergroup-inspired preamp circuit, hand-made in Portland, Oregon34. Catalinbread positions it as a way to, in MusicRadar's words, "transform any guitar rig into a rig of doom"2.
Two circuits for Tony Iommi's early tone
Iommi's early signature sound came from a heavily modded treble booster run into Laney amps, and the Sabbra Cadabra splits that recipe into two circuits: one modeled on the Laney Supergroup's preamp, the other on Tony Iommi's modded Dallas Rangemaster treble booster25. Griffin Effects describes the topology as "an Rangemaster booster and Tony Iommi's Laney™ Supergroup amp inspired circuit"4.
The front-end treble booster section is derived from Catalinbread's own Naga Viper, a three-knob system with Boost, Heat and Range controls. In the Sabbra Cadabra, the Boost and Heat settings are maximized, leaving Range as the adjustable part of that stage6. Independent analysis of the schematic found the same lineage, with one builder noting "this part of the schematic is basically like the naga viper treble boost"7.
The amp side follows the Supergroup's behavior. Catalinbread describes the Gain control as an analog to the Supergroup's Gain control: low settings give what the maker calls crunchy British-style chunk, while cranking it produces the tube-melting tones Iommi is known for, with Dehumanizer territory above 3 o'clock68.
The controls: Presence, Gain, Range and Volume
Four knobs sit on the enclosure: Presence, Gain, Range and Volume, which Catalinbread labels Vol 4 after the Black Sabbath album29.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Gain | Analog to the Supergroup's Gain control; low gives crunchy British-style chunk, cranked gives tube-melting Iommi tones, above 3 o'clock reaches Dehumanizer territory6 |
| Range | Influences the front-end treble booster; acts as an input frequency selector, moving between two input capacitors, one small and one large; tunes the boost from treble boost to full-range boost28 |
| Presence | Dumps a varying amount of frequencies to ground; a full-bodied master tone control that helps you sit in the mix, working like the Presence control on the Supergroup6 |
| Vol 4 | Volume control, named after the album; Catalinbread's own description is blunt: "LOUD. This thing gets LOUD."69 |
The Range knob deserves a closer look, since it is the one control players coming from a standard overdrive will not recognize. It is an input capacitor blend, an approach Catalinbread has used on several effects including the Katzenkönig and Naga Viper, and it is what lets the pedal shift between a classic treble-boost character and a fuller-range push28.
Gallery Series edition: Matt Stikker artwork and bundles
The Gallery Series was Catalinbread's limited-edition line featuring UV-printed custom artwork, and the Sabbra Cadabra got its run with new artwork created by Matt Stikker210. MusicRadar reported that the artwork sits on a Disco Purple enclosure with a purple light and packs in a wide range of Sabbath references2.
Pre-orders opened with a variety of bundles2:
- Basic package: the pedal, a poster and a sticker, plus a cloth bag and a pick in the box2
- Ultimate Bundle: the limited edition pedal, a zip-up hoodie, a T-shirt, a glow-in-the-dark poster and a holographic sticker2
- Pre-order bundles also included shirts, hoodies and glow-in-the-dark posters10
Ten per cent of the pedal's proceeds for the remainder of 2020 went to the Oregon Food Bank10.
Pricing
| Package | Price |
|---|---|
| Basic package, until 29 November | $179.992 |
| Basic package, thereafter | $189.992 |
| Ultimate Bundle, Black Friday deal | $229.992 |
| Ultimate Bundle, after 29 November | $269.992 |
Catalinbread pledged 10 per cent of Sabbra Cadabra sales proceeds to the Oregon Food Bank until the end of 202010. For comparison, Gearnews listed the standard Sabbra Cadabra at $187.00 in its 2025 distortion pedal buying guide9.
What reviewers made of it
"this pedal lottery sounds great it looks great the graphics are wonderful they're perfect for Black Sabbath"11
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Questions
What is the Range knob on the Sabbra Cadabra?
Range controls the front-end treble booster. It acts as an input frequency selector, moving between two input capacitors, one small and one large, so you can tune the boost from a treble boost to a full-range boost. Its circuit design is derived from Catalinbread's Naga Viper, with the Boost and Heat settings maximized.
How is the Gallery Series different from the regular Sabbra Cadabra?
The circuit is the same Sabbra Cadabra overdrive. The Gallery Series is a limited edition with specially commissioned artwork by Matt Stikker on a Disco Purple enclosure with a purple light, sold in pre-order bundles with shirts, hoodies and glow-in-the-dark posters. Ten per cent of proceeds went to the Oregon Food Bank.
What came in the Sabbra Cadabra Ultimate Bundle?
The Ultimate Bundle included the limited edition Sabbra Cadabra pedal, a zip-up hoodie, a T-shirt, a glow-in-the-dark poster and a holographic sticker. The basic package included the pedal, a poster and a sticker, plus a cloth bag and a pick in the box.
How much did the Sabbra Cadabra Gallery Series cost?
The basic package was $179.99 until 29 November and $189.99 thereafter. The Ultimate Bundle was $229.99 as a Black Friday deal, rising to $269.99 after 29 November. Preorders placed over the Black Friday weekend through Catalinbread's website got a $10 discount.
Sources (11)
- Sabbra Cadabra by Catalinbread, RockBoard PedalPedia, 2026
- Catalinbread works its dark Iommi magic on the Sabbra Cadabra Gallery Series drive pedal, MusicRadar, 2020-11-27
- Sabbra Cadabra, Catalinbread Effects
- Hand Of Doom PCB, Griffin Effects
- Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra Overdrive, Pedal of the Day (www.pedal-of-the-day.com), 2015-09-24
- Sabbra Cadabra (Traditional Ink Collection) B-Stock, Catalinbread Effects
- Guitar FX Layouts: Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra, tagboardeffects.blogspot.com, 2015-03-22
- Sabbra Cadabra White (B-Stock), Catalinbread Effects
- The Best Distortion Pedals in Every Price Range, Gearnews (www.gearnews.com), 2025-04-14
- Catalinbread launches limited-edition Gallery Series Sabbra Cadabra overdrive, Guitar.com, 2020-11-27
- Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra Overdrive Pedal Review, Sweetwater, 2018-06-13
