The CLR gets pretty darn loud.
Anyway, I'm not going to get dragged into a KPA v. AXE v. HELIX v. AMPLIFIRE v PLUGIN discussion. Each has some pretty good strengths, some differences in approach and variations on features. They all sound really good to me. As an example, I was playing through my Amplifi (which is basically a POD X3) on a Marshall Plexi patch - it was a Steve Hackett patch i downloaded and tweaked a little. It cleaned up really nicely - I was taken aback at how good it sounded with the neck pickup vol turned down.
As i said in some other thread, i had the KPA and Axe going through the CLR and ab:ed them. Switching between two similar Plexi patches and profiles. After a while and quickly switching between them like a three card monty dealer, I couldn't tell one from the other - they both sounded great. What was interesting to me is that i'd play one and think it sounded awesome, then switch to the other and didn't think it sounded as good. After a few seconds, my ears adjusted to the sound and it sounded great. When I switched back to the other unit, same thing. It didn't immediately sound as good as Unit B. Then my ears again adjusted to it and i liked the sound.
Well, i guess i did get into a Axe/KPA discussion after all.