Hidden gems: 10 of the best DJ equipment rarities

News surfaced last week that a pair of gold-plated Technics 1200s were being sold on eBay for £12,000. That's a lot of cash for a pair of decks, but they're in mint condition and apparently only 20 were available when they were first released in the UK in 2004. That gives them 'rare' status and places them alongside a bunch of other limited edition DJ gear.

We know there's plenty of rarities out there, from mixers and controllers to CDJs and headphones, so we compiled a list of some of our favourites. You might not be able to cop all of them now, but you can still gush over how pristine they all look. Don't forget to check eBay if you fancy splashing the cash, either.

This rotary has been described as the boutique mixer for DJs in 2016, and it doesn’t get much more so than Meza's Model Zero (pictured above). Made to order, the Model Zero is a stripped back piece of gear made for those tired of endless looping and effects knobs. Its bare essentials approach was made with the idea of elevating the music in mind and will set you back £2500. The crisp white appearance is a minimalist's dream, too.

Along with Technics, Pioneer is no stranger to veering from the traditional black or silver version of the common CDJ. It’s a little less of a customisation from the steampunk flavour of Tomorrowland’s set-up, but at least these CDJ-2000s are available. You'll be set back £4700 for a pair of these and a DJM-900 in, you guessed it, white.

Vestax might not be at the top of the music product pyramid these days but the two-channel VCi380 controller is one of the brand's finest. It's loaded with musical craft tools thanks to Serato DJ and the company promises it will "enhance the DJ's performance and take a new approach in manipulating music." All for an affordable £599.

Of course white isn’t enough for thirsty customers, so Pioneer also dropped a gold-plated version of its DJM-S9 Serato mixer to go with the gold Pioneer PLX-1000 turntables. Just 1000 were made available worldwide, engraved with a unique serial number to make note of their rarity. The whole package was going for £2500 at the time of release, but we can't promise you'll get it for that now.

Pioneer seems to have a thing about making its products sparkle. For just over £1500, this controller gives the impression every track comes with a sprinkling of gold dust, which would even make that set at a dead Yates bar on a Tuesday night that little more bearable. Precision is the selling point for this one, down to the slick, illuminated jog wheels and it's the first Pioneer controller that bases itself on the CDJ-2000NXS.

Anyone who has the confidence to DJ with these is a true hero in our eyes. The Sennheiser Orpheus headphones are for the audiophile hidden in all of us. At a whopping £30,000, they come with a valve pre-amp carved out of Italian marble and boast the most ridiculous frequencies.

On top of all the aforementioned gold rarities from Technics, the company's German branch released 1200 copies of the Grand Class SL-1200GAE turntable following the relaunch of the SL-1200. 300 copies sold in just 30 minutes in Japan and Technics suggested hitting up this list of German retailers when they originally hit the market. For UK buyers, it'll cost you about £3000 to get your hands on one.

Now discontinued, this original rotary was a favourite of discotheques in the 1970s and considered one of the best mixers in dance music, thanks to it being championed by Paradise Garage icon Larry Levan. Urei's product page asks, "When was the last time you worked with a DJ mixer that truly inspired you?" and it'd be hard not to be with the selection of balance control, separate house and booth outputs and a fine headphone section. Last sold on eBay for £1450.

Quality cartridges can be overlooked when it comes to DJ setups, but if you’re in the market for some high-end equipment then take a look at the sought-after and expensive Grado cartridges. With all the electronics housed in Australian Jarrah wood, they can be sold for as high as £1400.

Sophisticated with a truly vintage feel, Condesa's Lucia rotary mixer was designed with travelling in mind and to slot nicely into home setups. An isolator, FX send/return per channel and a headphone blend circuit all feature, making this another classy product for the Australian brand's range.