diff --git a/src/util/libbl.lua b/src/util/libbl.lua
index e4d46c5..2b1432f 100644
--- a/src/util/libbl.lua
+++ b/src/util/libbl.lua
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ local function valFromTs(val, name, name2)
   local vec = multinumericFromTs(val)
   if vec then return vec end
   -- net string
-  if val:sub(1, 1) == '\x01' then
+  if val:sub(1, 1) == '\001' then
     return _bllua_ts.call('getTaggedString', val)
   end
   -- string