diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/baq/BAQ.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/baq/BAQ.java
index 3d76096fb..3966434c0 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/baq/BAQ.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/baq/BAQ.java
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ public class BAQ {
                 throw new ReviewedStingException("BAQ tag calculation error.  BAQ value above base quality at " + read);
             // the original quality is too high, almost certainly due to using the wrong encoding in the BAM file
             if ( tag > Byte.MAX_VALUE )
-                throw new UserException.MisencodedBAM(read, "we encountered an extremely high quality score (" + ((int)read.getBaseQualities()[i] - 33) + ") with BAQ correction factor of " + baq_i);
+                throw new UserException.MisencodedBAM(read, "we encountered an extremely high quality score (" + (int)read.getBaseQualities()[i] + ") with BAQ correction factor of " + baq_i);
             bqTag[i] = (byte)tag;
         }
         return new String(bqTag);
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityReadTransformer.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityReadTransformer.java
index e841bc151..cac51239a 100644
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityReadTransformer.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityReadTransformer.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ public class MisencodedBaseQualityReadTransformer extends ReadTransformer {
 
     private static final int samplingFrequency = 1000;  // sample 1 read for every 1000 encountered
     private static final int encodingFixValue = 31;  // Illumina_64 - PHRED_33
-    private static final byte maxAllowedQualByte = QualityUtils.MAX_REASONABLE_Q_SCORE + 33;
 
     private boolean disabled;
     private boolean fixQuals;
@@ -60,8 +59,8 @@ public class MisencodedBaseQualityReadTransformer extends ReadTransformer {
 
             final byte[] quals = read.getBaseQualities();
             for ( final byte qual : quals ) {
-                if ( qual > maxAllowedQualByte )
-                    throw new UserException.MisencodedBAM(read, "we encountered an extremely high quality score of " + ((int)qual - 33));
+                if ( qual > QualityUtils.MAX_REASONABLE_Q_SCORE )
+                    throw new UserException.MisencodedBAM(read, "we encountered an extremely high quality score of " + (int)qual);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityUnitTest.java b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityUnitTest.java
index bd244b49e..75b7bb384 100644
--- a/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityUnitTest.java
+++ b/public/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/sam/MisencodedBaseQualityUnitTest.java
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ import java.util.List;
 public class MisencodedBaseQualityUnitTest extends BaseTest {
 
     private static final String readBases = "AAAAAAAAAA";
-    private static final byte[] badQuals = { 'Z', '[', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'a', 'b', 'Z', 'Y', 'X' };
-    private static final byte[] goodQuals = { '[', '[', '[', '[', '[', '[', '[', '[', '[', '[' };
-    private static final byte[] fixedQuals = { ';', '<', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'B', 'C', ';', ':', '9' };
+    private static final byte[] badQuals = { 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 61, 62, 58, 57, 56 };
+    private static final byte[] goodQuals = { 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60 };
+    private static final byte[] fixedQuals = { 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 30, 31, 27, 26, 25 };
     private SAMFileHeader header;
 
     @BeforeMethod