I like pedalboards for writing songs, I 100% get having more real knobs for the creative process
@Bodde - strong agree there. I have a pedalboard I don't travel for that reason.
Live I want the opposite. The least that can get knocked around. The least to wire up, the least that can break but still sounds and feels totally great. Nothing touches the power + simplicity of Fractal for that. I do prefer real guitar cabs however. FRFR is like a pedalboard to me, does things only it can do, but is also finickier about resonance unless you stand mount it, which I'm not going to do at a club show.
Well yes and no
@Deadpool_25 Its not
all perspective. How many unique pieces are there that can break, fail or get loose? That is a very real difference for live shows that is mechanical and not opinion.
Example - I've seen plenty of sweet looking custom pedalboards mess up shows, but never a midi controller doing the same thing - and its not a coincidence.
There's a ton more stuff in a big board to go wrong, its just odds catching up with people. All those power cables, batteries, patch cables, even solder points inside all those pedals...
Speaking from personal experience I've seen everyone from the humble other guy in my bar band to Mr. Steve Vai on the G3 tour have the same, random, buried patch cable go bad during a show... suddenly the signal cuts in and out or gets really noisy. THAT is most assuredly not the same and that is no small thing.
What people like for tone/feel/etc? Of course, that is indeed pure preference.
Be well!