I remember when processing colour reversals on C41 film with Xtol (mostly Fuji at the time iirc), that I would get very pale bases (C41 as CD). Rodinal colour reversals (C41 as CD) would give the full orange mask like a neg, but with a positive image.
Atm, all my Xtol and Rodinal reversals fail as Ive been trying ways to run them cold, they both end up as opaque film, they seem to work hot though (38-40c).
Seems Ascorbic Acids likes to change base colour.. I took some sensia that was lab developed that had clear areas and bathed it in ascorbic acid.. ended up changing to a yellowish base. Weird.
My Reala that I xpro'ed using a modified E6 first dev recipe (bromide and iodide replaced with benzotriazole, metol replaced with paracetamol gram for gram (then hydrolysis to aminophenol) and some added ascorbate gave me a pale masked positive... when corrected looks like this.
The density and mask colour of C41 seem all over the place.. affected by both first developer and whether using E6 CD or C41 as the colour developer.
Though results for the same process are generally consistent across different films, so I dont think the neutral base is a result of processing, that would be some odds. The others are all quite green.
Edit: One more thing, when I bulk loaded 10exp and tried to cold process it with Rodinal as a first dev for xpro to positive.. opaque with no image, 36exp? Same process? Slightly less opaque real dense base with a very very thin positive image in there. Odd.
I specifically bought the bulk loader and film as it was on special so I'd stop wasting so much film chasing this cold process reversal dream.
I'm going to try one more thing... pre-wash/rinse in 40c water for 10min, and see if that makes a difference or not.
Otherwise next test will have to be Rodinal @ 38c again.