A while back, a friend had me listen to a Death Cab for Cutie track. It was one of those “you have to check this out” moments. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention, but when I later heard “We Looked Like Giants” I began to appreciate the band. Today, I’m going to dissect the guitar tone in that tune.
More specifically, we’re going to look at Chris Walla’s crunchy driven tone. As always, a major part in any good driven sound is the amp. Chris combines a 1964 Fender Tremolux and a Dr. Z 2×10 cab. In front of that, he has an MXR Micro Amp and the Fulltone Full Drive 2 which he compresses by using the Flat Mids (FM) setting. That latter detail is what’s key to Chris’ sound. You can really hear that compressed OD sound on many of Death Cab’s albums.
So, if you aren’t looking to pick up a Micro Amp and Full Drive 2, you may want to look into some alternatives. For a Clean Boost, I’m a huge fan of the Lizard Leg Effects Flying Dragon (and would suggest it to anyone). For the Compressor, check out the Malekko Omicron Compressor. It’ll take up very little real estate and give you a nice, smooth compression similar to what you’d get with the FM mode on the Full Drive 2. With those other selections, you should be able to throw just about any OD in the mix and have a decent enough sound — even an Ibanez TS9 (stock).
As far as pedal order, I’d say OD>Compressor>Boost. That way you can take an already saturated sound and just bring it to the next level (while giving it a good squish).
The Pedal Lab 
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