[BenWA]

Yes, it's possible something else could have damaged it, but it's questionable. It may have been a 73 year old vacuum tube that finally went south. It's a Philco tube, probably original. (Also not a rare or expensive tube, so no major loss). I powered it up a good many times and it always worked. Then suddenly it went bad. The tube died when I tried to power it up again, not in the middle of use.

I am going to see about replacing things that are obviously bad before I power it up again.

However, replacing new modern capacitors just for the sake of doing so would be really wasteful and pointless unless there is a pattern of the same tube blowing out. We're talking about a vacuum tube that may have been 73 years old when it went out.

If after I replace the bad wires and it blows the same tube quickly, then I'll know something else is wrong. In the meantime, I will stick the chassis back in and leave it until I get new wires for the speakers and other things. I will also build and utilize a bulb tester thing. I also want to add a fuse for the transformer to protect it in general.

Also, the fellow who tested the tubes for me said that when I laid the chassis on it's side AFTER I smelled burning, unplugged it and pull it out of the cabinet (when the tube went bad), that it may have caused further shorting in the tube from loose filament inside which is why it went even worse with the blue sparking I witness. (Note to self, don't power up vac tubes on their sides)

So all signs point to that one bad tube. You have to start small and troubleshoot things. If your car stalls on the side of the road, you don't just decide to rebuild the entire engine right then and there. I suppose you could.. but why if nothing is wrong except the fuel filter?

Since the chassis has already been retrofitted with modern capacitors, there's little reason to suspect a problem there at this particular moment. It was operating fine with good audio, no strange sounds and no burning smell until this one vacuum tube went bad.