only to a certain extent, a bass player I know has just switched from guitar, he's not got any real love for bass playing, he bought a cheapo Westone and a smallish Laney combo and to be frank he sounds awful, to my ears anyway, a really highish middy sound (bit like knocking on someones front door), when he plays the E string it booms and disappears into the mix when he plays the D string, so decent gear does matter, but, the laws of diminishing returns kicks in very quickly