knob-twiddler

plural knob-twiddlers · alternative knob twiddler

1. informalA technician whose job entails adjusting electronic devices via knobs.

   But long live the spirit of the amateur cameraman, the solo recording engineer, and the lonesome knob twiddler.

   2005, David Kettle, Elephant Gnosis, →ISBN, page 173

   3 more examples

   Mr. Telson was a confirmed knob-twiddler. Often he would work along the whole range of his radio, to 'see what he could get.'

   1949, Bernard Newman, Shoot!, page 207

   If you're a dedicated knob twiddler what follows can hold no pleasure for you. If jumping doggedly up and down in constant conflict with the electronics of a TV set is your idea of an evening's bliss, then don't read on.

   1964 July 16, New Scientist, page 148

   Recorded in 1995, 'Spaceman' had been hanging around unnoticed for a year when an ad agency knob-twiddler chanced upon it, or rather one very, very small part of it.

   2012, Tim Moore, You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Through Unloved Britain, →ISBN, page 157