I also can highly recommend the wavebird controller.I paid about £20 to import platinum wavebirds from US sellers on eBay in the past(on three different occasions now), so I guess it might be possible to get a standard grey one for about £12-£15 with postage.
I also had a Venom controller with my cube (only bought a platinum pak about 12 months ago from gamestation, and it was free, i ususally avoid third party accessories) and have to say i found it uncomfortable compared to the official one.
Wayner.