A discrete op amp
Op amps have always been around, whether made with vacuum tubes or transistors. There were companies that made op amp modules. They were pricey and they had a lot of limitations.
Even with today's matched components, you'll have a heck of a time building a discrete op amp that has any decent bandwidth, high slew rate, good CMRR, low input offset current, good noise immunity, high input impedance and high open loop gain. They couldn't ever do all of that when the modules were being professionally built. It took the integrated op amp to began to get all the specifications to start moving toward their ideal points. Always you have compromise. You usually don't get high-gain with high bandwidth, etc. It's only been in the last 10 or 15 years (the IC op amp has been on the market for at least 35 years) that the bandwidths have gotten into the hundreds of megaHertz without that much compromise on other specs, and that's been with a lot of different companies putting a lot of bucks into research and design.
There's nothing wrong with trying this project out. Just don't expect to even approach even the specs of the lowly 741. Doing it with a simulator as suggested might be a more worthwhile investment of your time so that you can use the time saved designing a project that will be more practical.
Dean