If the wiper is to ground, you will always have a loss of some kind. Most log and rev log pots only have 2 or 3 overlays so they aren’t smooth. I use all linear panners with make up right under the pot.Depends what linear panner you are talking about. A simple low cost single LIN pot panner will have a 6dB loss at the extremities but one using a dual LIN pot with pull up resistors has no loss at the extremities. It also has the advantage that LIN pots are much more consistent than log and revlog pots.
Cheers
Ian