Is it worth the money buying the Boss GT-8 multi-effect processor or do I buy a few Boss pedals? Is there a difference in the sound reproduction between the two? I don't play live, just record at home. I just sold the Boss GT-6 in hopes of buying the GT-8. After some reviews that said the sound reproduction is better on individual pedals, now I am not sure what to buy. Any advice?

Pedals.

I sold ALL my pedals and rack gear about 2 years ago and went with the PodXT. The XT has great amp simulations, excellent effects (especially the TS-808, and some of the modulation effects), and is obviously more convenient.

I'm now in the process of moving back to a rack/pedal system, using the XT simply for its amp sims.

My pedals:

Boss OD-2 (Japanese...mild OD with Turbo OFF, thick OD with Turbo ON)
DOD FX10 BiFet (NICE clean boost)
Ibanez PDM1 Modulation Delay (best digital mod delay pedal EVER)
Boss SD-1 (Japanese...TS-9-style overdrive)
EHX Big Muff Pi (non-RI red/black/silver model...much smoother than the RI)
MXR Dynacomp (original block letter version....blows away the RI)
Line6 Verbzilla (mainly for verbs and occationally for 'shimmer' effects)

My Rack:

Digitech DHP-33 (for harmonizing, 'shimmer', and whammy effects...this is in the same league as an Eventide H3000)
Korg A2 (modulation and special effects...also auto wah if necessary)

I'll be adding a rack delay to this (probably the TC D-Two or a Korg DL8000R if I can find one). Right now, it all feeds into a patchbay (Neutrik) in my 6-space SKB, since I dont need the pedals on the floor. I just patch as needed, and feed the chain into my XT, where I usually use the AC30 or Fender Deluxe sims. At some point, I'll get a GCX looper and an Axess Electronics FX1 floor board to control everything, but for now, the patch bay suits me just fine. Alternatively, I go straight into the computer and use the PSP42 delay and Guitar Rig, though to my ears, the XT easily beats GR for amp sims.

I'm MUCH happier with my tone now. Multi-FX are great, but you can't beat pedals.

You raise an interesting point.I had a home-built pedalboard with 15 Boss pedals on it, all interconnected. At the time, I was playing live 4-5 nights a month, and the band I was in relied on me instead of a keyboardist for effects, strings, etc. (I also have a GR-50). My parts required instantaneous switching between sounds.

While the sounds were cool, there was a lot of noise simply because of the signal chain through all the pedals. I rarely used all 15 at once, but even the passive effects were pulling down the signal level. I bought a laboratory-grade power supply, which helped, and I soldered jumper wires across all the jacks so they had a common ground, which helped even more... but the thing was still a beast to maintain and transport, and it was quite noisy overall. Again, in a live setting this didn't bother me too much.

At home in the studio, though, it was unusable - just too much noise.

I reasoned that by recording multiple guitar parts, I could overcome the switching-time issue, so I bought a POD, whose sound was lovely. However, that meant my track count was increasing to absurd levels, and at the time I was using 8-track analog tape. When I transitioned to cmputer-based recording, the track limitation went away, but the complexity of managing multiple tracks of multiple guitar parts was frustrating.

I was invited to play a few gigs with a band last summer, whose guitarist had broken his legs and couldn't gig. In preparation, I went and bought a GT-8... and here, I seem to have found a happy compromise. Using the FS-6 footswitch set to turn individual effects on/off per patch, I can get most of the same functionality as my old board. Not all, mind you - I still miss tap-dancing on that thing as I played!!

So, here are some considerations for you:

1. If you only use 1-3 pedals "turned on" at once to get your sound, consider sticking with pedals.
2. If you only use 1-6 pedals total, and you own them already, stick with them, and get one common power supply to drive them all. Also, buy new connecting cables once a year, and burnish the connectors at least twice a year.
3. If you need more pedals than that, consider a GT-8 or POD XT Live.

One final subjective: Personally, I think the POD XT Live sounds better than the GT-8 for traditional "amp simulation" use. Whatever algorithms Line 6 uses just seem to sound "fatter" to me. However, the GT-8 had more effects and more programming options, which is why I bought that one. Play them both, and make your own decision... but overall, both are VERY MUCH worth the money.

Rock hard, either way!