Ummm, tha phatbox is not a bad product, and offers numerus advantages over the empeg(and vice versa).. I would go as far and say it is actually more advanced than the empeg. The empeg to me is a VERY highly advanced & refined "garage" product, but then again so was the Apple ][...
Calling one better than the other is a tough one though - I would say such a comparison would only begin to be valid if the user is indifferent to installation location.
I recently sent phatbox an e-mail telling them I wouldn't be interested until their cartridges(hard drives) were far lest than the 300%+ markup they have for them now..
-John M