When I'm gigging I use a multi-effects pedal to give me quick access to some basic tones and to avoid any excessive knob twiddling during the performance. I have two tones for my accoustic and three for my electric guitar. To get a pedal that would allow me to access and change the parameters to get these 5 basic tones I had to buy a full on bells and whistles pedal with dozens of factory presets and hundreds of programmable options.
Last night my gadget went haywire and dumped all my settings, leaving me with only the factory pre-sets, so I unplugged it and carried on without it. Guess what...........I liked it better straight. I've played so long with these gadgets that I forgot how good a Telecaster sounds played "clean" through a Marshall amp. My accoustic had a good "honest" tone to it too.
Seems funny to play and not have to think about what you're feet are doing!