Hey gb, look forward to helping you out. Remember a rack setup is just a head but in separate bits so you can select the bits you prefer, other advantage is it's all (usually) line level and rack units tend to be better than stomp boxs' As you say, then the patching variations can get complicated, the good thing about a head is it's all in one but that said, some of them get complicated (e.g. the latest boogie heads where they try to combine all their previous heads in one...) with lots of switching options.
For me, I started treating it like a PA (just for my guitar) using a small analogue mixer to bring all the inputs and outputs together and "mix" in digital effects together with dry analogue MP1/2 signal. Then you don't have to stuff around trying to get the wet/dry balance right in all the devices, they just do what they are good at (delay, reverb etc) and you don't get your analogue dry signal ruined by the A/D D/A convertors in each device.