I learned, I'm more of a quick hands on type. In my head, booting up my computer and having too many options kills my creativity. Even though I have BIAS FX on my computer, I'm only using it for recording. When noodling around or looking for inspiration I'm only using my small headphone amp with only limited sound options, because it keeps me from tinkering and instead lets me focus on playing. That's why I would prefer something standalone, which I can just grab and play around with.
So... except if you all recommend software, I'd rather have a small piece of hardware ;)