No, but not simply because some one plays out all the time doesn't mean that they're any more knowledgeable about their gear or how to have anything sit in a mix than some one who records in his own studio. I was playing a gig the other day with a band that's probably played 100 shows the last 2 years, and their bass player's EQ was so bad he was clipping his amp all show.
I have to agree, some people have played for years and years, and are good players, but don't know squat about how to get the most out of their gear.
I know one guy who is a phenomenal player and he doesn't even own an amp! But he does now how to get a good sound out of anything, never over-EQs, never clips his amps nor runs with the master full-up and the gain at 7 o'clock or any of the wacky stuff I've seen some experienced players do.
Well here's an extreme example: I saw BB King live, back in 1986 at an outdoor show, and his Lab amp was *dimed* - every knob except "Mids" was on 10! Reverb, pre, master, bass, treble, all of them. He was loud as sh!t, too. Mids were on about 7. He sounded good though, sounded just like himself, only loud enough to drown out his drummer and his horn section. Forget hearing the bass player, I couldn't hear a single bass note the whole show. I was right at the edge of the stage, about 6 feet from BB, I could smell his cologne. He almost cut my head off with that amp. But I would never suggest to anyone that that was the proper way to use that amp. It worked for him, but jeez, good thing it was his band or he would have gotten fired.
