Hi Rob,
Another old vinyl jock here (going back to 1974 LOL).
I’ll be warning against setting your budget too tight, as you might run the risk of getting something that is not gonna give you the full/right kind of Digital DJ-ing experience.
Not sure about the pricing in the UK, but the controllers we generally “recommend” as being suitable for starting controllers while still being good enough to set your first playing out steps with (house parties, perhaps the odd small venue/bar) are
Pioneer DDJ-SB
Denon MC2000 (if you like the SB but need gain/level knobs this would be the most likely alternative, imho)
Numark MixTrack Pro2 (also no gain knobs)
Reloop BeatMix 2 (with gain knobs)
Noticing/feeling the lack of gain buttons IS a typical analogue DJ thing. I personally would have serious problems not having a gain button. Many guys that start on digital though, they will either trust the auto-gain function in their DJ software and/or run everything through something like Platinum Notes (which is what I use), so the actual use for a gain knob is slightly less than it used to be in all fairness. Cranking up EQs would not be on my list of feasible alternatives.
As far as going for Serato because it’s included with most non-Traktor controllers goes, you’ll end up having to buy the full version because none of the mentioned controllers will give you a full Serato license, just the intro version. Also, the fact that they come with Serato (and/or are “optimised” for Serato) doesn’t mean that you can’t look at some of the other options. Virtual DJ and Mixvibes Cross are certainly contenders when it comes to DJ Software that will work great with the mentioned controllers. The recently released DJay Pro for Mac is also worth a quick peek. Depending on your ambitions and your workflow it might be for you.
Hope this helps some.
.
