diff --git a/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug b/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug
index d83f7c369e51..17dcd9416db3 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/arch/arm/Kconfig.debug
@@ -1723,6 +1723,14 @@ config EARLY_PRINTK
 	  kernel low-level debugging functions. Add earlyprintk to your
 	  kernel parameters to enable this console.
 
+config EARLY_PRINTK_DIRECT
+	bool "Early printk direct"
+	depends on DEBUG_LL
+	help
+	  Say Y here if you want to have an early console using the
+	  kernel low-level debugging functions and EARLY_PRINTK is
+	  not early enough.
+
 config ARM_KPROBES_TEST
 	tristate "Kprobes test module"
 	depends on KPROBES && MODULES
diff --git a/kernel/printk/printk.c b/kernel/printk/printk.c
index d4c86643258d..b38f3fb2a006 100644
--- a/kernel/printk/printk.c
+++ b/kernel/printk/printk.c
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
 #include "braille.h"
 #include "internal.h"
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_LL
+#ifdef CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK_DIRECT
 extern void printascii(char *);
 #endif
 
@@ -1846,10 +1846,6 @@ asmlinkage int vprintk_emit(int facility, int level,
 	 */
 	text_len = vscnprintf(text, sizeof(textbuf), fmt, args);
 
-#ifdef	CONFIG_DEBUG_LL
-	printascii(text);
-#endif
-
 	/* mark and strip a trailing newline */
 	if (text_len && text[text_len-1] == '\n') {
 		text_len--;
@@ -1878,6 +1874,10 @@ asmlinkage int vprintk_emit(int facility, int level,
 		}
 	}
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK_DIRECT
+	printascii(text);
+#endif
+
 	if (level == LOGLEVEL_DEFAULT)
 		level = default_message_loglevel;