IMO the rebel yell is far closer to a more musical JB than a holy diver. I found the holy diver to be somewhat too dark in my guitars for my taste. I do not understand why everyone compares it to a jb. Not a comparison I would make. The rebel yell is a little less aggressive than the nailbomb and lower output. It is one I would definitely consider.
Now I'll grant you I've never actually tried a Rebel Yell but your comment still surprises me. I believe the Rebel Yell is based on a Nailbomb and I HAVE tried an A-Bomb, which was a country mile away from being like a JB. The Rebel Yell would have to be a vastly different beast to a Nailbomb to come anywhere remotely close to sounding like a JB. Conversely, you can say that the JB is smooth, thick and fluid, all of which apply to a Holydiver. Where the Holydiver differs from the JB is that there's no mud, it's far more articulate, has a sweeter lead tone and has more of all the best qualities of the JB. I feel fairly sure about this as my guitar came with a JB as stock and I switched it to a Holydiver. It was clearly very similar but also far better in every way.
I use a nailbomb as well, but I retain my comments that in my experience the holydiver does not sound like a JB to me at all. Then again, the JB is pretty defined by that high mid spike. The holy diver I had was actually I would describe as dark and somewhat prone to sound like a neck pickup, even though it as a bridge pickup in the bridge position. My JB's (and I have had 4 or 5 over the past 20 years) were bright, and somewhat brittle. It seems like the eqs were drastically different to me. The rebel yell has far more high mids, and a familiar eq curve to the JB. (I Believe Steve Stevens has noted that as well.)
To me the holy diver was darker than I like, thick with a lack of highs. That lack of highs kind of made me initially like it, but eventually I wanted to brighten it up a bit. And it felt like I never could get the guitar bright enough with the holy diver. After trying it in 4 guitars. (LP, Strat, SG, and a humbucker esquire)
For all the comparisons to the JB it gets, I prefer the Rebel Yell as it has a similar eq curve, but is much more organic and clear without the fizz or overcompression.
I actually don't care about similar specs, but how things sound. And the Rebel Yell to me sounds far more like a JB than a nailbomb.
