Zap:

But can't this be done through the firewire?

MIDIclock used not to work over FireWire – this was fixed in V5.5, so it now does.

Zap:

But I am also concerned about the delay in time between changing presets

H8000 presets are large, so do not change instantly. As you mention, dsp bypass is useful. You should also look at the "Virtual Pedalboard" presets, which allow effect changes without relaoding presets.