diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0fb948de8..fe51ee58c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -18,17 +18,17 @@ matrix:
     - jdk: oraclejdk8
       env:
        - DESC="Oracle JDK8 testing"
-       - CMD="mvn test -B -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Dlog4j.configurationFile=log4j2.travis.properties"
+       - CMD="mvn test -B -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Dlog4j.configurationFile=log4j2.travis.properties -Dtests.log_level=info"
 
     - jdk: oraclejdk7
       env:
        - DESC="Oracle JDK7 testing"
-       - CMD="mvn test -B -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Dlog4j.configurationFile=log4j2.travis.properties"
+       - CMD="mvn test -B -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Dlog4j.configurationFile=log4j2.travis.properties -Dtests.log_level=info"
 
     - jdk: openjdk7
       env:
        - DESC="OpenJDK7 testing"
-       - CMD="mvn test -B -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Dlog4j.configurationFile=log4j2.travis.properties"
+       - CMD="mvn test -B -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2 -Dcheckstyle.skip=true -Dlog4j.configurationFile=log4j2.travis.properties -Dtests.log_level=info"
 
 script: echo "Running $DESC..." && (eval $CMD)
 
diff --git a/log4j2.travis.properties b/log4j2.travis.properties
index 3c926875d..f81b23307 100644
--- a/log4j2.travis.properties
+++ b/log4j2.travis.properties
@@ -6,4 +6,5 @@ appender.console.name = CONSOLE
 appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
 appender.console.layout.pattern = %p\t%d{ISO8601}\t%r\t%c\t[%t]\t%m%n
 appender.console.filter.threshold.type = ThresholdFilter
-appender.console.filter.threshold.level = info
+appender.console.filter.threshold.level = all
+# appender.console.filter.threshold.level = info
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/util/CustomLogger.java b/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/util/CustomLogger.java
index 5902e3fc3..0d2cd73a0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/util/CustomLogger.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/util/CustomLogger.java
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Level;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
-import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Filter.Result;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Appender;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LoggerContext;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.ConsoleAppender;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.appender.RollingFileAppender;
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.Configuration;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.Configurator;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.LoggerConfig;
-import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.filter.ThresholdFilter;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.layout.PatternLayout;
 
+
+
 @Slf4j
 public class CustomLogger {
     private static final Multiset<String> messageCount = HashMultiset.create();
@@ -38,6 +39,11 @@ public static void setup(Level level, String logLocation, boolean logFormatRfc33
 
         String logPattern = logFormatRfc3339 ? LAYOUT_RFC3339 : LAYOUT;
 
+        PatternLayout layout = PatternLayout.newBuilder()
+            .withConfiguration(config)
+            .withPattern(logPattern)
+            .build();
+
         if (logLocation != null
                 && !ConsoleAppender.Target.SYSTEM_ERR.toString().equals(logLocation)
                 && !SYSTEM_ERR_ALT.equals(logLocation)
@@ -46,11 +52,6 @@ public static void setup(Level level, String logLocation, boolean logFormatRfc33
 
             target = "FileLogger";
 
-            PatternLayout layout = PatternLayout.newBuilder()
-                .withConfiguration(config)
-                .withPattern(logPattern)
-                .build();
-
             RollingFileAppender fa = RollingFileAppender.newBuilder()
                 .setConfiguration(config)
                 .withName(target)
@@ -77,11 +78,6 @@ public static void setup(Level level, String logLocation, boolean logFormatRfc33
                 config.getRootLogger().removeAppender("CONSOLE");
                 ctx.updateLoggers();
 
-                PatternLayout layout = PatternLayout.newBuilder()
-                    .withConfiguration(config)
-                     .withPattern(logPattern)
-                    .build();
-
                 ConsoleAppender ca = ConsoleAppender.newBuilder()
                     .setConfiguration(config)
                     .withName(logLocation)
@@ -95,8 +91,20 @@ public static void setup(Level level, String logLocation, boolean logFormatRfc33
             }
         }
 
+        // replace default appender with the correct layout
         LoggerConfig loggerConfig = config.getLoggerConfig(LogManager.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME);
+        loggerConfig.removeAppender(target);
+
+        Appender appender = ConsoleAppender.newBuilder()
+                    .setConfiguration(config)
+                    .withName(target)
+                    .withLayout(layout)
+                    .build();
+        appender.start();
+
+        loggerConfig.addAppender(appender, null, null);
         loggerConfig.setLevel(level);
+
         ctx.updateLoggers();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/TestCommon.java b/src/test/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/TestCommon.java
index ca48eef3c..fac6340bb 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/TestCommon.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/datadog/jmxfetch/TestCommon.java
@@ -42,7 +42,11 @@ public class TestCommon {
     /** Setup logger. */
     @BeforeClass
     public static void init() throws Exception {
-        CustomLogger.setup(Level.toLevel("ALL"), "/tmp/jmxfetch_test.log", false);
+        String level = System.getProperty("tests.log_level");
+        if (level == null) {
+            level = "ALL";
+        }
+        CustomLogger.setup(Level.toLevel(level), "/tmp/jmxfetch_test.log", false);
     }
 
     /**