Of course it is. Hand me a Jackson or BC Rich with a low action, 9s, and a good distortion box and I'll throw down some speed. Not ungodly speed, but pretty fast none the less. I'll also break the high e, and quite possibly the b and d strings in about ten minutes.

I get heavy strings because I break fewer strings that way and because I like the tone MUCH better. So I end up playing slower and with stronger hands. Big deal.