The effects loop did the trick for me. It’s dead quiet back there. Sounds killer, too, of course.
As for pedals with which the noise wasn’t a noticeable issue in my rig: Strymon Timeline (which also gives the opportunity to swap bypass settings; both were quiet), Pigtronix Echolution 2 Deluxe, Line 6 M9 (again, I believe a bypass toggle is available in the menus, rather than comparing, e.g. an active drive model to true bypass…also, the M9 is not w/o its problems, and I still prefer the H9 to it in most respects),. FWIW, the TC Nova had a similar noise issue. In all of these cases, I’m talking about WITH the stock adapters. That should aid in research. (Obviously, those using 1-Spots should be corrected and/or banished from public life.)
Others could chime in with pedals that worked fine for them vs the H9. I know my co-worker Larry Rolando (Nashville session guy…same with Andy Most) had to yank his Timefactor for the same reason. I could find out from him what he replaced it with, if we’re conducting an honest search for a solution here, and not something else. FWIW, I still think they’re fantastic sounding products. I have another H9 tied to my recording rig for use with every instrument (and that, in addition to an old H3000). I know HRI and TGP had some threads about TF noise in front of the amp. I will say, I don’t think (and maybe you guys aren’t saying this, so do correct me if I’m unfairly representing your responses) that one’s using vintage-output pickups and a lack of clean boosts on one’s pedalboards is quite to blame for these noise issues, particularly given the ubiquity of that type of rig and (if it’s true) that other pedals don’t tend to have as much noise.
But I’m definitely in the camp who is interested in a solution. I love the sound of the TF and H9, even though these reports have been out there in the forums for years, now (I think it’s fair to say–though I’m definitely open to being wrong–in greater number than those reports vis a vis so many other pedals….the 1-Spot users, notwithstanding). 🙂
