Don't worry mrdecibel
I had to have Nelsons view again, so I emailed him, and asked under "ideal conditions" when only the passive (<3o'clock) is used what happens to the active stage, this is what he said again without revealing what the "patent" part of the circuit was.
So as you can read at 3 o'clock and below in volume all you hear is the source.
" Under ideal conditions, where attenuation of the tap point is exactly that of the active gain, the active stage disappears, and any setting below that is the source.
Non-ideal case would include distortion, which is attenuated by the ratios of the source impedance, potentiometer impedance and load impedance, the active circuit being s current source."
As I said, kosst had a nerve to question what he said, as he isn't Nelson itch spot.
Cheers George