I've gone both ways and while I am now currently pure pedals, I have to say that products like the TC Electronc pedal board are very intriguing. It's basically a G-Major on the floor with a rugged foot controller already build on it. It's got it's own loops so you can insert pedals and you can determine order...so for example you can have your fav OD and wah pedals routed so that hit before the preamp, then have that preamp signal via effects loop where you want all the modulation and delays happening..and control all of it with the pedalboard in one spot. Plus the processor is removeable and can be rack mounted if you wanted all the hardware completely out of sight, so the pedals you wanted in teh loops could be in teh rack with it and you wouldn't need a separate
midi controller. It's a fantastic looking product but it ain't cheap.
Going the pedal only route, you get a simpler view of life and all the processor and
expression pedals assignments, midi channels and change control messages complicate matters pretty significantly. So if you're a tech oriented person and want maximum flexibility and don't mind programming things, then the above product or a rack solution might play well for you. But if you're a person that is a "what you see is what you get" stomp on, stomp off sort of bloke then full pedals is what you're after. Just my experience.
