I did that for a while (even but a hole in my case so the bass still fit inside) but ended up doing an internal install on both basses because I liked it so much. 99% of the time I play clean with it bypassed (though I still use the VB99 as my pre-amp/multi fx/audio interface because it's amazing).
When you do the internal install you can choose what you want to add to your instrument, from just the pickup and the 13 pin output to adding an assignable knob, two buttons, an LED and a mix switch.