This past weekend I got to serve my beer at a festival. In fact the homebrew tent was a huge hit. I got quite a few questions on what kind of system I use to make beer, and some people were pretty shocked when I told them my system was a 20qt pot and small mash tun and that all my stuff is partial mash/partial boils. Everyone loved the beer, and I even had repeat customers. I "Sold out" of 10 gallons in about 4 hours.
So no, I didn't need fancy equipment, I just needed the ability to learn from good people how to brew great beer. (And the few books I've picked up help too). Sometimes maybe I post here and think, wow I must sound like I'm clueless, but it helps me learn so I'm OK with it.
And there's still stuff I know I can do to improve my beer.