Me too. But to your point, they haven't so far.
I am not personally a big effects guy; however, I think that at the high end, the all-in-one's should focus more effort on the verbs and delays. If you have good amps, verbs, and delays, the rest is all gravy (at least for me).
I think currently only Fractal and Kemper have good enough verbs and delays to compete with the better stand alone units. Helix should definitely step up. Seems like they have the processing power to do so (at least one would certainly think so with the Stadium).
I’m pretty much in your camp with effects. Amps, reverbs and delays are my jam. I’m not a modulation guy much if at all. If needed, I’ll add boosts or light drives to goose the amp. Sometimes EQ, but usually if I’ve done my homework (tweaking, mixing, chain design & cab choice if needed) the EQ is rarely needed unless to adjust for loudness.
For me, beautiful reverbs are a work of art and add so much when used well. Delays are in the same category as well now that I think about it.
I typically only use one or another at a time so that I can fully appreciate each. But that’s relatively only recenty. I need to explore using them in parallel more fully as that may preserve the individuality of each when used together.
Getting away from all-in-ones for a moment. If I had one standalone that I believe is not mentioned enough and is possibly underrated… it’s the Neunabor Illumine. In my experience this unassuming looking little box is stellar. For my tastes and uses, it is better sounding than any Strymon, Audio Source, Boss, L6, and even Lexicon or Yamaha units I have tried. To me, it’s a modern rack unit in a stomp. I think the only ones that I have tried that are close to me would be UAFX’s plates and halls. The reverb type centric pedals offering either are a considerable bargain at current prices if you don’t need features they lack such as midi and stereo.
OK, back to our regularly scheduled topic. But when it comes to reverbs, I get excited and just can’t help myself! I spared everyone from a paragraph on delays which I almost wrote.
