diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
index 009d42d452..8deca313f4 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_command.c
@@ -6471,7 +6471,8 @@ qemuBuildCommandLine(virConnectPtr conn,
                     }
                 } else if (cont->type == VIR_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER_TYPE_USB &&
                            cont->model == -1 &&
-                           !virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_PIIX3_USB_UHCI)) {
+                           (!virQEMUCapsGet(qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_PIIX3_USB_UHCI) ||
+                            def->os.arch == VIR_ARCH_PPC64)) {
                     if (usblegacy) {
                         virReportError(VIR_ERR_CONFIG_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
                                        _("Multiple legacy USB controllers are "
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-default.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-default.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a63ba3b2c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-default.args
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test \
+/usr/bin/qemu-system-ppc64 -S -M pseries -m 512 -smp 1 \
+-nographic -nodefconfig -nodefaults \
+-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,path=/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait \
+-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=readline -no-acpi -boot c \
+-usb -chardev pty,id=charserial0 \
+-device spapr-vty,chardev=charserial0,reg=0x30000000
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-default.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-default.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e62a78c9da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-default.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>1ccfd97d-5eb4-478a-bbe6-88d254c16db7</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>524288</memory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='ppc64' machine='pseries'>hvm</type>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-ppc64</emulator>
+    <console type='pty'>
+      <address type="spapr-vio"/>
+    </console>
+    <memballoon model="none"/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-multi.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-multi.args
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3cc6cc3ab2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-multi.args
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+LC_ALL=C PATH=/bin HOME=/home/test USER=test LOGNAME=test \
+/usr/bin/qemu-system-ppc64 -S -M pseries -m 512 -smp 1 \
+-nographic -nodefconfig -nodefaults -chardev \
+socket,id=charmonitor,path=/tmp/test-monitor,server,nowait \
+-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=readline -no-acpi \
+-boot c -device piix3-usb-uhci,id=usb,bus=pci,addr=0x1.0x2 \
+-device pci-ohci,id=usb1,bus=pci,addr=0x3 -chardev \
+pty,id=charserial0 -device spapr-vty,chardev=charserial0,reg=0x30000000
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-multi.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-multi.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f45d9d1327
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-pseries-usb-multi.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+<domain type='qemu'>
+  <name>QEMUGuest1</name>
+  <uuid>1ccfd97d-5eb4-478a-bbe6-88d254c16db7</uuid>
+  <memory unit='KiB'>524288</memory>
+  <vcpu placement='static'>1</vcpu>
+  <os>
+    <type arch='ppc64' machine='pseries'>hvm</type>
+  </os>
+  <clock offset='utc'/>
+  <devices>
+    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-ppc64</emulator>
+    <console type='pty'>
+      <address type="spapr-vio"/>
+    </console>
+    <controller type='usb' index='0' model='piix3-uhci'/>
+    <controller type='usb' index='1' model='pci-ohci'/>
+    <memballoon model="none"/>
+  </devices>
+</domain>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 4bf13f070a..ae73509eff 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -903,6 +903,14 @@ mymain(void)
             QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST("pseries-vio", QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE,
             QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
+    DO_TEST("pseries-usb-default", QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG, QEMU_CAPS_PIIX3_USB_UHCI,
+            QEMU_CAPS_PCI_OHCI, QEMU_CAPS_PCI_MULTIFUNCTION);
+    DO_TEST("pseries-usb-multi", QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE,
+            QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG, QEMU_CAPS_PIIX3_USB_UHCI,
+            QEMU_CAPS_PCI_OHCI, QEMU_CAPS_PCI_MULTIFUNCTION);
     DO_TEST("pseries-vio-user-assigned", QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE,
             QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV, QEMU_CAPS_DEVICE, QEMU_CAPS_NODEFCONFIG);
     DO_TEST_ERROR("pseries-vio-address-clash", QEMU_CAPS_DRIVE,