High Voltage power supply

[ankurb]

Hello there,

My partner and I are currently working on a third go-around on a science experiment and because we have a limited budget I bought a used HV power supply. It is rather old and the meter does not seem to work (perhaps it only good for parts but I took a gamble.) Anyways, I was hoping someone might have some ideas to see if it is salvageable?
As you all know HV power supplies are extremely expensive and was hoping to get lucky with this older one. Looks like it is in pristine condition internally but quite old using vacuum tube tech inside.

HV light turns on but meter is not responsive and don't hear much when I turn the dial. Perhaps I need to put in a load for it to work? It uses an older octal cable it seems.

Sorry, I'm mainly a theorist so really starting from the ground. Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time.
Best,
A

P.S.
I posted once before and have had very positive results in my first two experiments but was using a traditional flyback with DC supply. Wanted something a little more robust and more pure DC signal.

Here are some pictures if that helps.