All the inputs and outputs on the AM802 are at the back (as are all the in/outs to my various gadgets, only front inputs are guitar/bass > MP-2 or MB-1), I have it velcroed to the bottom of my 8Ru live rack (industrial wide velcro), MP-2 main A/B > ch 1/2 (panned hard L/R), MP-2 cab sim outs > ch 3/4, MB-1 Full range out > ch 5. Aux 1/2 to Quadverb L/R, Aux 3 > midiverb4 L(mono). QV L/R out > stereo ch 7 L/R, MV4 L/R out st ch 8. Main out L/R > poweramp > cabs
The Phonic stuff is (in my experience) fairly reasonable, they sound ok (not particularly coloured) I use a phonic dual 31 band eq in the PA rack for FOH. It shouldn't add too much noise (what it does you probably won't notice as it's so small (I'm being (very) pedantic here BTW). A patch bay is a very different beast to a mixer. It's just designed to let you patch (with yet another lead) the individual inputs and out puts of various things, not mix various things together. Their main use is when you have lots of different bits of kit (eg in a studio) that are not located near one another, to provide a convenient way of plugging them in (to wherever you want to). At the heart of a patch bay set up is a desk (to mix it all together).
Your mm1002 is very usable for a guitar rig, and also bringing in a few different preamps. So it basically has 5 available stereo pairs (albeit only ch 1/2 with gain and eq), 1 mono Aux send and 4 stereo outputs (main L/R, cntrl R L/R, HP L/R, rec L/R), all controlled by the master fader (I haven't read the manual (just going off the pic) so possibly Aux one feeds the cntrl R ? or HPs ? as well/or instead of the Aux out jack ?)).
So if I were using it, I'd plug my main preamp (MP-2) into ch 1 & 2 (select line), pan them hard L/R, adjust gain (red light on then back off till it blinks occasionally). Plug Aux out to Fx L (mono) input on multi FX gadget, turn up Aux on 1 & 2 (start 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock ?) adjust Fx input for decent level, return it L/R into (9/10) (make sure ch 9/10 Aux send is OFF or bad feedback
). Main outs to poweramp L/R > cabs. Adjust volumes (poweramp 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock
or full up
), adjust Fx to dry volume to taste... ADA heaven.
So you have a variety of patching scenarios that will work (well) with it. With above just plug other preamps into 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 stereo pairs. You can now mix and match 4 preamps with one Fx unit (I suggest a mild stereo delay and a bit of chamber reverb as a start).