I need rig help!!!

I'm dumping my uber-heavy rack for something a little more simple. Going to get a F-30 short head to go with my Marshall 1965a (4x10) cab. The goal is light weight and quick setup/tear down - last gig the drummer beat me out the door

Right now I've got a head/rack/pedal combo thing happening. Rack has power distro, Line6 Mod Pro, Rockman Midi Octopus & Echo. The Octopus switches channels on my amp and bybass on the Echo. Pedal board has a Strobostomp, Wah and OCD along with my ADA MC-1 for midi control. I use a PedalSnake to connect all this crap. I really like using midi and ultimately would like to set a patch for each song and then only trigger the necessary FX (drooling over the Axess FX1).

Band is a cover band (www.romanholidayband.com) so I need a couple of sounds FX wise. Using chorus, delay/echo, reverb and flange/phase along with different distortions. Rack was 4 channel and the OCD provided clean boost and a Roctron Multivalve provided the FX (I hate this thing - pain to program). Temporary head is 2 channel and the F-30 is 2 with contour, plan on using a couple dirt boxes for inbetween sounds.

Other than the things listed I have the following: Axess GRX4, Verbzilla, TS9, TS808, Ibanez Metal Charger, SCOD and all the Rockman half rack stuff.

Here are the options I've thought of (no particular order):

1) Line6 XTL in the loop w/ Axess CFX4 - use the PedalSnake to connect send/receive loop and CFX4 to control amp.
Con: can only use the modulation in the loop, still need dirt boxes
Pro: quick set up plug/unplug Pedalsnake din plugs and go
Thought about a GT8 but since I practice at home with a GuitarPort I would have to learn the Boss programming.

2) Use current rack w/ some pedals in the rack
Con: connect rack to head, connect rack/head to pedal board, need to carry rack and pedal board
Pro: flexibility with rack


3) 100% pedal board
Con: need to buy pedals, pedal board might get big, takes up more stage room
Pro: quick setup with Pedal Snake, midi control with GRX4 - adding a smaller midi controller would provide more room on the board.

4) Something I haven't thought of yet.

Appreciate any input and your ideas.

I'd be interested to know what you think of the F-30, I'm thinking about getting one of those myself.

I'm only familiar with a few of the items that you listed. I'm happy to see soembody using a Midi-Octopus. That is a cool piece of gear. I used to use one in my old rack rig.

It really sounds like you have all of the bases covered. I would maybe add a programmable midi switch so you can reroute midi signals as necessary. I found it helpful for complex configurations.