Ah, bass players! I fired 13 of them before buying my own bass guitar. That move did not turn out as well as I had hoped: bass is not my natural instrument and I dislike switching between bass and my six-string. How to get a good bass sound with your normal guitar? I tried various pitching shifting effects and octave pedals, etc., but the results were always less than satisfying. Then I gave the VG-99 a spin and, while not perfect, the results are interesting.
The only thing you need beyond the VG is a hex pickup (I have two of those but I also use a midi-enabled guitar) and you're good to go.