Good story, Dave. Mind you, there's as much Behringer gear with controls and the like directly soldered to the motherboard as isn't.
This particular amp (and many others) yes, physically, the knobs HAVE to be away from the mainboard. But a lot of B's effects units, rack processors and small gear of all kinds uses surface mounted controls.
Box of chocolates indeed...!
I see what you're saying. I'm sure the same can be said about most other brands as well though, don't you think?