New testing equipment check

[Notimetolooz]

Do you have an isolation transformer? You really should have one if you work on anything with a hot chassis.
Many people like to power things up for the first time using a variac and current meter. A dim-bulb tester is a partial substitute.
Since anything other than a AM radio may have many different tube types, and therefore too many types to have on hand for substituting, a tube tester makes sense.
Mostly you need to learn a lot about how things work and how they are built.