I learned a lesson 20ish years ago from one of the best sounding guitarists I heard live. He basically had an electric guitar through a dirt pedal into a small tube amp. And his sound screamed with power and tone. I used the same gear as him but my sound was blah. I had him look at my settings. “Here’s your problem…” he turned my amp up from 3 to 7. “No power from the amp, no power in your tone.” Since then, I run everything hot and play softer, but that does allow me to play very articulate and loud when needed without touching a thing. This applies to both bass and guitar.
