Do individual pedals sound better? They might and probably do in some cases. I have about 8 pedals as well as my boss gt 10. I did a comparrison between my Ibanez tube screamer pedal and the boss gt10 model of it. They sounded soooooooo very close that I would never have had an issue playing with the one on the Boss GT10.
Also, if you like to tinker, you can mod your pedals. I love to tinker so, i have modded several of my pedals.
Having said that... Having my GT10 is like having the ultimate toy. So many amp models, so many FX options. The tonal options out of this unit and other units like it are going to be limitless.
I have an old 1969 Kustom K100C amp. It's all old school analog circuitry. Nothing digital, and no tubes. Just resisters, capacitors, transistors ect.. A beautiful clean sound. I was never happy with the tones I was getting with my pedals in front of it. Put my Boss GT10 in front and it get amazing tones and FX. Probably because of all the different preamp models that the GT10 has.
Anyway, this is what works for me.
[U]Ricks Current Mystery Video[/U] - Updated Monday March/02/2015