Personal preference usually based on whether the player prefers the sound of individual stompboxes or a pedal board or even rack. I personally go with the pedal board. I'd trip all over myself if I had more that three stompboxes on stage.

I used to have individual pedals. I got tired of the toe-tap-dance so I bought a pedalboard and never looked back.

I have a load of individual pedals and I do sometimes struggle to play and turn multiple pedals off at the same time! The manoeuvre (and it is a manoeuvre! :-)) I have to pull off must look very odd!

In my ignorance (this may already be possible) I would love a pedal board that you could route your pedals into and then configure different switches on the pedal board to use different combinations of inputs.

My main reason for doing 'the manoeuvre' is because I am yet to find a pedal board that has as nice effects as my individual pedals!

Next obvious question for those of you who prefer 'boards' .... which is the best performance-to-value board? Line6 Pod XT?

I have only owned two 'toys' in my life ... a Dunlop Wah and one of the original MXR Phase90s. A buddy loaned me a cheap KORG multi-effects gizmo (some Musicians Friend 'Stupid Deal of the Day' I think) .. and it was a lot of fun .... especially the delay.

Anyway .... what to buy ? (As if I had the money ...)

There is another alternative, albeit a fairly expensive one...

I use stomp boxes. In my rack, I have all of these:
Keeley DS-1 Ultra, Keeley TS-9 Plus, Maxon ROD880, Voodoo Labs Micro Vibe, ISP Decimator, Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator, Boss GE-7 EQ.

I also have a Rocktron Xpression that handles delays, reverbs, and chorus sounds for me.

I switch between them using my GCX Audio Control system. It's midi controlled, so one button can change a whole bunch of things at once. For instance, I can have one button on the midi foot controller go instantly from my clean channel on the amp with a the Micro Vibe and some delay, to the lead channel with the DS-1, chorus, and delay. It's as easy to use as one of those multi-FX boards, but it's real analog effects boxes instead of digital wanna-bes. You just assign your amp channel, stomp boxes, and Rocktron patch that you want to a patch on the Midi controller, and go to town.

The only things *not* in my rack are my volume, wah, tuner, and wireless receiver. Everything else is controlled by the rack system.

I get funny looks at blues jams, because of course if you're not playing a TS808 through a cranked twin, you're *obviously* not playing blues. They see my board and instantly think "digital"...until I show them the rack with all the analog effects in it ;)