Yes, that is a better idea. i did the same thing to. used it in my homebrew tube tester.
My circuit consists of A 230volt neon tube. whit a 100n capacitor in series shunted whit 4M7. fed off 205Vac..
the capacitor is to stop the tube from conducting current, acting as a half wave rectifier.
works really well. flickers under 2M resistance. and glows brightly under 500k.
already found tubes whit shorted grids.. cathode shorts and a lot more faults.
my tester has a test switch whit 10 positions 2-9 test leakage/shorts and position 10 test anode current
cheers.
V4lve