Pedals won't get you 100% there. Lots of people obsess over gear thinking that "this badass Zvex pedal will make me sound like Matt Bellamy." While artists tend to have a standard arsenal for particular genre's of music, your technique is really what makes your music shine. I spent years trying to nail down "my sound" and I ended up disappointed with nearly every pedal I purchased in an effort to get there. But enough banter, I can give you some basic ideas.
Most Post-Rock sounds have lots of gain. A pedal won't get you lots, and lots, of gain in the context that you want it to without sounding artificial or blatty. You need a badass amp (triple Rec or better), active pickups, a compressor, and mad power chord chugging skills. That's about it. Sick post-rock rigs are relatively easy to build with a couple thousand dollars. If you want an econo-rig, well you can get there too. Visit your local guitar center and go find the Blackstar section and grab a Schecter or something comparable. DISCLAIMER: Blackstar fans don't hate. I know they have some higher end stuff too.
As for delays, you listed basic industry standards that work across genres. For post-rock you probably don't want anything too analog (although you did list a Memory Man), so you could go with the Replica (T-Rex), DD-7 (Boss), or any decent digital delay.
Modulation is a great way to add a little colour to your tone. Stone Temple Pilots used this religiously and pulled it off pretty well. Jerry Cantrell snuck a pre-gain phaser into some of his guitar work to fatten up the tone--and that worked really well too. I know these bands aren't really post rock, but I don't think anyone can argue that they don't have influence--and these are all industry strategies that tend to span genres.
Compression is nice, but not entirely needed. Most heavy gain amps will compress themselves when dimed, and it's highly likely that any serious compression occurs post-production. Still might be a good thing to consider, but make sure you know how to use one. Lots of people get frustrated with compressors because they don't entirely understand what they do and consequently how to use them.
In closing I'd suspect that a Post-Rock band's trademark sound is achieved via a standard pattern of pedals, their guitar/amplifier combination, and however the production house EQ's them--which honestly tends to be true for most genres these days.
We never claimed that subjective questions were horrible abominations that should never be asked.blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective – Anonymous Jan 24 '11 at 8:30