diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterAdder.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterAdder.java
index e1e4e9aeaa..b0633ea860 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterAdder.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterAdder.java
@@ -88,14 +88,14 @@ public class CqlCounterAdder extends Operation
                 {
                     Integer stmntId = getPreparedStatement(client, cqlQuery);
                     if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))
-                        client.execute_prepared_cql3_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key))), session.getConsistencyLevel());
+                        client.execute_prepared_cql3_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBuffer.wrap(key.getBytes())), session.getConsistencyLevel());
                     else
-                        client.execute_prepared_cql_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key))));
+                        client.execute_prepared_cql_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBuffer.wrap(key.getBytes())));
                 }
                 else
                 {
                     if (formattedQuery == null)
-                        formattedQuery = formatCqlQuery(cqlQuery, Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key)));
+                        formattedQuery = formatCqlQuery(cqlQuery, Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key, session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))));
                     if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))
                         client.execute_cql3_query(ByteBuffer.wrap(formattedQuery.getBytes()), Compression.NONE, session.getConsistencyLevel());
                     else
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterGetter.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterGetter.java
index db99d0d75b..7feee5b301 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterGetter.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlCounterGetter.java
@@ -89,14 +89,14 @@ public class CqlCounterGetter extends Operation
                 {
                     Integer stmntId = getPreparedStatement(client, cqlQuery);
                     if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))
-                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql3_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key))), session.getConsistencyLevel());
+                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql3_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBuffer.wrap(key)), session.getConsistencyLevel());
                     else
-                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key))));
+                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBuffer.wrap(key)));
                 }
                 else
                 {
                     if (formattedQuery == null)
-                        formattedQuery = formatCqlQuery(cqlQuery, Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key)));
+                        formattedQuery = formatCqlQuery(cqlQuery, Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key, session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))));
 
                     if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))
                         result = client.execute_cql3_query(ByteBuffer.wrap(formattedQuery.getBytes()), Compression.NONE, session.getConsistencyLevel());
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlIndexedRangeSlicer.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlIndexedRangeSlicer.java
index 5a18b30f34..b1fa85e048 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlIndexedRangeSlicer.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlIndexedRangeSlicer.java
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ public class CqlIndexedRangeSlicer extends Operation
             if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("2"))
                 query.append(" USING CONSISTENCY ").append(session.getConsistencyLevel());
 
-            query.append(" WHERE C1=").append(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(values.get(1).array()))
+            query.append(" WHERE C1=").append(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(values.get(1).array(), session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3")))
                  .append(" AND KEY > ? LIMIT ").append(session.getKeysPerCall());
 
             cqlQuery = query.toString();
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public class CqlIndexedRangeSlicer extends Operation
             String exceptionMessage = null;
             CqlResult results = null;
             String formattedQuery = null;
-            List<String> queryParms = Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(startOffset));
+            List<String> queryParms = Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(startOffset, session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3")));
 
             for (int t = 0; t < session.getRetryTimes(); t++)
             {
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlInserter.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlInserter.java
index 7a3eab99d0..ed03f1f439 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlInserter.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlInserter.java
@@ -89,11 +89,11 @@ public class CqlInserter extends Operation
         for (int i = 0; i < session.getColumnsPerKey(); i++)
         {
             // Column value
-            queryParms.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(values.get(i % values.size()).array()));
+            queryParms.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(values.get(i % values.size()).array(), session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3")));
         }
 
         String key = String.format("%0" + session.getTotalKeysLength() + "d", index);
-        queryParms.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key));
+        queryParms.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key, session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3")));
 
         String formattedQuery = null;
 
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlRangeSlicer.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlRangeSlicer.java
index 0e27f671ad..acf06028cd 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlRangeSlicer.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlRangeSlicer.java
@@ -82,14 +82,14 @@ public class CqlRangeSlicer extends Operation
                 {
                     Integer stmntId = getPreparedStatement(client, cqlQuery);
                     if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))
-                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql3_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key))), session.getConsistencyLevel());
+                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql3_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBuffer.wrap(key.getBytes())), session.getConsistencyLevel());
                     else
-                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBufferUtil.bytes(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key))));
+                        result = client.execute_prepared_cql_query(stmntId, Collections.singletonList(ByteBuffer.wrap(key.getBytes())));
                 }
                 else
                 {
                     if (formattedQuery == null)
-                        formattedQuery = formatCqlQuery(cqlQuery, Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key)));
+                        formattedQuery = formatCqlQuery(cqlQuery, Collections.singletonList(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key, session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))));
                     if (session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3"))
                         result = client.execute_cql3_query(ByteBuffer.wrap(formattedQuery.getBytes()), Compression.NONE, session.getConsistencyLevel());
                     else
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlReader.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlReader.java
index a7f9a090ba..58d77ddb81 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlReader.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/operations/CqlReader.java
@@ -80,10 +80,10 @@ public class CqlReader extends Operation
         List<String> queryParams = new ArrayList<String>();
         if (session.columnNames != null)
             for (int i = 0; i < session.columnNames.size(); i++)
-                queryParams.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(session.columnNames.get(i).array()));
+                queryParams.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(session.columnNames.get(i).array(), session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3")));
 
         byte[] key = generateKey();
-        queryParams.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key));
+        queryParams.add(getUnQuotedCqlBlob(key, session.cqlVersion.startsWith("3")));
 
         String formattedQuery = null;
 
diff --git a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/Operation.java b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/Operation.java
index d5910f9b48..d1cfc22ee1 100644
--- a/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/Operation.java
+++ b/tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/util/Operation.java
@@ -230,14 +230,16 @@ public abstract class Operation
             System.err.println(message);
     }
 
-    protected String getUnQuotedCqlBlob(String term)
+    protected String getUnQuotedCqlBlob(String term, boolean isCQL3)
     {
-        return getUnQuotedCqlBlob(term.getBytes());
+        return getUnQuotedCqlBlob(term.getBytes(), isCQL3);
     }
 
-    protected String getUnQuotedCqlBlob(byte[] term)
+    protected String getUnQuotedCqlBlob(byte[] term, boolean isCQL3)
     {
-        return Hex.bytesToHex(term);
+        return isCQL3
+             ? "0x" + Hex.bytesToHex(term)
+             : Hex.bytesToHex(term);
     }
 
     protected List<ByteBuffer> queryParamsAsByteBuffer(List<String> queryParams)
@@ -246,7 +248,9 @@ public abstract class Operation
         {
             public ByteBuffer apply(String param)
             {
-                return ByteBufferUtil.bytes(param);
+                if (param.startsWith("0x"))
+                    param = param.substring(2);
+                return ByteBufferUtil.hexToBytes(param);
             }
         });
     }
@@ -270,7 +274,7 @@ public abstract class Operation
         for (String parm : parms)
         {
             result.append(query.substring(position, marker));
-            result.append('\'').append(parm).append('\'');
+            result.append(parm);
 
             position = marker + 1;
             if (-1 == (marker = query.indexOf('?', position + 1)))