switched boxes on my 2 12 kicker comps going from a sealed box to a bandpass. sealed was louder but the bass from the bandpass seems to be clearer is this normal?
Sealed should give you cleaner bass and should be tighter. Bandpass is difficult to build right. The problem might be with what type of music you are testing it with. Bandpass is good usually with bass hitting at intervals, it will be clean and louder. Sealed on the other hand can handle continous stream of bass and it'll still sound pretty nicely.
The problem is it's very subjective to different people. Go with what your ears tell you. I personally prefer sealed over the bandpass if you can afford the power it needs. And it's hella easy to build and play around with, you can't really go wrong with a sealed comparing to how hard it is to build the bandpass and adjusting it right.