Roy played several trumpets over the course of his career. Early on, he performed on an Olds Super model. From the 1940s through the early 1960s, he played and endorsed the Selmer (Paris) K-Modified model; several Selmer advertisements featuring him can be found in the Writings section of this site.

After his time with Selmer, Roy briefly endorsed a Calicchio model (medium-large bore, 1S bell, 3 leadpipe) as well as the Holton ST-100, later known as the Dave Stahl model. Following these endorsements and continuing until his death, Roy performed on a Paris-made French Besson Brevete, which became his main instrument. He also owned a Meha trumpet, though he rarely used it.

On all of the demonstration audio recordings featured on this site, Roy played a French Besson Brevete fitted with a Jet-Tone RS1 mouthpiece. He preferred the silver-plated finish, noting that it provided excellent projection while maintaining warmth and tonal character.