With the Variax as with my Taylor 614CE, I don't use acoustic IR's. I use a PEQ with a little bit of low shelving and a mid bump, and sweeten it with a touch of warm reverb. With the Axe-FX, I'd use a Mixer to even out the volume balance; but with the AX8, I use a volume block to compensate for the volume.
Then, I took that and merged it with my vibroverb patch, so that I could switch from acoustic to electric by switching scenes which was required for theater gig I have right now that goes from acoustic to banjo to electric and back.