so the H9 input meter must have quite the early warning for clipping?  is there a "known" db value as to how much would damage the pedal?  i'm a little concerned, again, because i'm smacking the front end of my amp pretty hard at times via clean boost and OD, and the H9 is in my signal chain after the clean boost/OD.

Hi, it's OK if the input LED is lit occasionally. Clean boost and OD won't damage the pedal. As long as the LED is not always lit and you are fine with the sound, you don't need to worry about it.