What are you looking for? Because I would say the majority of op amps are discrete.

Have a look at the insides of the 741. Then think about what you consider to mean 'discrete'.

@Hearth I am not looking for anything really, I just would like to know if there are any op-amps that are out there that are not inside an IC. To me, IC op-amps are not discrete. I don't know, maybe something that can be used on a tabletop rather than a breadboard or PCB.

there are some 4 quadrant power supplies with differential analog inputs. you don't put external feedback components typically as you would for regular op amps. so you can think of them as an op amp with a low open loop gain of eg. 5 or 10.

There were vacuum tube op amps and op amps on circuit boards packaged in tiny boxes. Those are things of the past. There are small packaged amplifiers available today that are designed for specific purposes, but perhaps not op amps. Manufacturers make what they can sell in large quantities.

It's absolutely not clear what you mean. Most opamps are sold as a discrete component - an IC that's an Opamp. You can build an opamp from discrete components, too, like transistors, resistors and diodes, but you usually don't, because it's worse in every perceivable way than commercially available opamp ICs – more complicated, more expensive, less bandwidth, harder to get good gain, more noise, less stability, less reliability, more power usage, …; this all should not come to a surprise to you! I'm sure you've read the opamp wikipedia page before asking something you can answer yourself.

That wikipedia page comes with literal photos of opamps as ICs, and opamps built from discrete components. That answers the question.

@MarcusMüller My question says: "are there any op-amps out there that are not a part of ICs or PCBs?" and my comments should supplement it.

Are you searching "vintage" components ?

I get the impression that you're looking for a box that has its own power supply, and has inputs "+", "-", and an output, like the op-amp symbol. A zero-volt reference (ground) would likely be required too. Not that common today - these used to be called analog computer.

@Antonio51 If there are any modern equivalents to those vintage op-amps that are not a part of ICs or PCBs, it would be great to know about them. I understand that there are vacuum tubes that act as op-amps, and yes, that answers part of my question. But now, I am curious about any modern equivalents as mentioned above in this comment.

@glen_geek Yeah, that is what I was kind of getting at. Is there a part or a family of parts like that you know?

Some "hybrid" components ? But where to find these? ok. Note that, in a certain time, OPamps and other components were made for the spatial use, because they were more resistant to the "gamma" rays, I think.

@Shocked it's then still not clear what you want - to about 10 engineers here in the comments. Maybe clearly define what you want – this is way to handwaving for me.

@Antonio51: Tube opamps were made because that's what they could use at the time. The transistors back then didn't have high enough operating voltages, and were more expensive than tubes. If any vacuum tube based opamp made it to space then wasn't anything standard. Vacuum tubes and their sockets don't do well under heavy vibration and acceleration.

Op-amp ICs are discrete components already when sold as an IC. Just like an IC optocoupler is a discrete component. Sure they can be built with disctete components, take a handful of transistors and resistors and wire them together and you have an op-amp. Just like you can build an optoisolator with discrete LED and phototransistor. Before op-amps were ICs they were modules built on PCBs from discrete transistors and resistors.

@Antonio51: Take a look at the Wikipedia page on operational amplifiers. The first picture is a uA741 opamp from 1972. That's about as close to "discrete" as you are going to get. An opamp will always require multiple pins so you can never have a three pin opamp in a transistor housing. An opamp has at a minimum an inverting input, a non-inverting input, an output, power supply in positive, and power supply in negative.

Okay, I think I understand it now. If anybody could give their answer to what they think is the answer to my question, I will appreciate it. Thanks.

We're still not sure what the question is.

@JRE I am just saying if there are any op-amps out there that are that can be used without ICs or PCBs. If you cannot think of any, then just give the standard answer (IC or PCB op-amp). If you can think of any vintage components, that would be good as well. Thanks.

Only send a link for infos, see the discrete analog amplifier from ANALOG DEVICES

analog.com/media/en/training-seminars/design-handbooks/…

I forget page H.32

@Tachyon it's still totally obscure what you mean with "opamps that can be used without ICs". Most opamps are ICs, and can be used however the hell you want it. See "opam configurations": Again, wikipedia-level knowledge.

@JRE: think that price was not a criterium for rejecting any assembly. I remenber simple circuit that cost some $100.000. Only resistance to "cosmic -rays" was important. Sorry for my bad english. I know well the components since about 1969. I have used these intensively, as the "analog computer" for simulating "automation close loop systems". It was a fine system. All potentiometers were motorized and preset automaticaly by digital hardware.

@Tachyon we really don't understand what you mean with that question, so I've voted to close as too broad. "Discrete" probably really means something different than you think it does, and we've tried very hard to get you to define what you really mean, and fix your question. Feels like yet another question in the series "Shocked asks for existence of components with leads", without having done sufficient research.