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I believe Antique Electrinic Supply has variacs. If you were to find a used one, that would be fine too. You could wire a light bulb in series with the line, starting with low wattage bulbs and working up to higher wattage ones.
Myself, I start the variac at 25 volts and increase by 5 volts every 15 minutes. You should hear something from the speaker at around 70 to 80 volts. At around 50 volts, I feel the electrolytic cans to see if they are overly warm (If the chassis is set on its side, heat transfer from the tubes). If the chassis is upright and a can gets overly warm, shut it off, the cap is bad. If you replace the lytics before applying power, do a slow start anyway. I got lucky with my Andrea. All but one lytic reformed.
If around 70 or 80 volts, you hear frying sounds from the power transformer, shut down.
During the soft start, disconnect the plate cap from the horiz out (or remove the tube). Running the hor out on reduced voltage will stress the fly. Once you are at full voltage, enable the hor out.
You might find a good used variac for around 20 bucks. I paid the best price for mine (free).
I should define "overly warm." I allow a little warmth from heat transfer from the tubes. If a cap is hot at low voltage, or you hear hissing, or it explodes, it's bad.
Hope this helps some.
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