actually.
theres a quote in a encounter of italian ambassadors to the english court some time in the 16th century
that contains a quote to some effect
'the use strong bows but they only shoot at close targets, the arquebusiers shoot at long distances'
or SOMETHING.
does anyone know where this might be from, and maybe even knowing the proper passage?

I've read quite a few Italian ambassadorial quotes about Tudor archery but don't recognise this one. There is, if you are generally interested, a selection of quotes from Italian ambassadors about Tudor soldiery in this article.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44219135

While it's on Jstor, it is readable online for free.

The general thrust of the argument looks more like the comment of a soldier and would fit some of the things said at the time. Take, for example, this comment from Blaise de Monluc

Quote:

they all carried arms of little reach, and therefore were necessitated to come up close to us to loose their arrows, which otherwise would do no execution; whereas we who were accustomed to fire our Harquebuzes at a great distance, seeing the Enemy use another manner of sight, thought these near approaches of theirs very strange, imputing their running on at this confident rate to absolute bravery

But if anything can be turned up from an Italian source, I would be interested to see it too.

Have you searched the bow vs. musket blog? https://bowvsmusket.com/